


Frog in a Well

by WhoLockGal



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-25 00:52:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 36
Words: 74,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1623089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoLockGal/pseuds/WhoLockGal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two steps forward, one step back. Every relationship has its hurdles, but are they worth it? Rose Tyler has already been through so much at the hands of the Doctor, and now the universe seems to want to put her through more. Is there still a place for her by his side though? And, more importantly, can she forgive him the past to move on toward the future?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I attempted to import this story in full, but unfortunately that is no longer an option. So, in honor of Fanfiction Friday, I have decided to simply re-post it here as well. Hope you enjoy!

Waking up had never been her forte. For some it was as natural as breathing. She never understood those people. Going to sleep though, that's where she shined. Once her head hit that pillow, she was out. No errant thoughts, no outside distractions. Just a girl and her dreams.

Without fail, every morning she was shocked into existence by her obnoxious alarm clock, eventually stumbling her way out of bed for coffee and a shower. Then, it was time to head to the shop for a mindless day of folding clothes and dealing with obnoxious customers. Her life had become little more than the instructions on a bottle of shampoo: lather, rinse, repeat.

It's amazing how things can change in the blink of an eye or, more accurately, the mention of a perfectly ordinary word:  _Run_.


	2. Bad Wolf Bay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time may pass, but the memories are still always there.

Run. It took just three little letters and a strange man's hand grabbing Rose Tyler's for everything to change. Her average, ordinary life as a shopgirl in London vanished as he introduced her to a new life amongst the stars. Literally. Alien planets and lifeforms, starships and time travel. It really did seem very Spock to her, as it would to most any human. But honestly, who could say no to helping right wrongs and save countless races across time and space? Who would?

That felt like a lifetime ago for her now, and had to be two and a half for him, if not more.

It had been nearly 3 years since she had been locked away in the parallel universe they had come to know simply as Pete's World. Three years since her second visit to that godforsaken beach in Norway.

_Dårlig Ulv Stranden. Bad Wolf Bay. Aptly named as the place where Rose's life would once again change forever._

_Standing in front of the Tardis and Donna Noble, the Doctor turned to face Rose and his clone. "You're back home."_

_"And the walls of the world are closing again, now the Reality Bomb never happened..." Donna chimed in._

_Rose could feel that something was brewing. Something that would devastate her. "No, but I spent all that time trying to find you! I'm not going back now..."_

_"But you've got to. Cos we saved the universe at a cost, and the cost is him," the Doctor responded, motioning to the other Doctor standing behind Rose. "He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own."_

_"You made me!" The Doctor's clone responded, offended._

_"Exactly. You were born in battle. Full of blood, and anger, and revenge." Turning to Rose, he adds, "Remind you of someone? That's me, when we first met. And you made me better. Now you can do the same for him-"_

_"But he's not you!"_

_"He needs you. That's very me."_

_As much as it pained her, she knew that the Doctor was right... -ish. The Doctor's clone, the result of an unanticipated two-way biological metacrisis, needed her._

_"I look like him, think like him" the clone began. "Same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except..." He hesitated for a fraction of a heartbeat, a single heartbeat. "I only have one heart."_

_"Which means?"_

_"I'm part human. Specifically the aging part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler, and I could spend it with you... If you want." He hesitated again, very unsure of how she would take this revelation._

_"You'll grow old, at the same time as me?"_

_"Together."_

_Yes, he needed her every bit as much as she needed what the Doctor himself couldn't give her: forever. And the fact that she was able to accept that broke the Doctor's hearts beyond repair._

How was she to know that forever wouldn't even last 3 years?

John, as the clone became known in Pete's World, loved her. That day on Bad Wolf Bay he was able to say the words that the Doctor couldn't. When they made their way back to London, he helped her mourn the Doctor, mourn her old world. And she helped him accept his new human existence, adjusting to a more domestic life than the Doctor's memories prepared him for.

Everything changed though. It always does. Now it wasn't waking up that was the issue, but instead falling asleep.

 


	3. The Big Bang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unexpected things can happen when one attempts to rewrite time.

The Doctor had always operated on the theory that time can't be rewritten. Well, that fixed points in time can't be rewritten. Well, shouldn't be. Then again, what good is a theory if you can't try to disprove it?

This was one of those times to test the theory. The entire universe at stake, and he could fix it. Make everything right, let it be as it should rather than as it was. All it would take was a trip in the Pandorica and a small sacrifice on his part: himself.

Amy approached the Doctor slowly, unsure of exactly what he was planning. "Hi," she said.

"Amy Pond. The girl who waited. All night in your garden. Was it worth it?"

"Shut up. Of course it was."

"You asked me why I was taking you with me and I said..."No reason". I was lying."

"It's not important," she insisted.

"Yeah, it's the most important thing left in the universe. It's why I'm doing this. Amy, your house was too big. That big, empty house. And just you."  _Why didn't she understand?_

"And Aunt Sharon."

He decided to try another approach to get through to her. "Where were your mum and dad? Where was... everybody who lived in that big house?"

"I lost my Mum and Dad."

"How? What happened to them? Where did they go?"

"I... I don't..." she stammered.

_Now we're getting somewhere!_  "It's OK. Don't panic. It's not your fault."

"I don't even remember."

"There was a crack in time in the wall of your bedroom and it's been eating away at your life for a long time now. Amy Pond, all alone. The girl who didn't make sense. How could I resist?"

Amy was starting to get anxious now. "How could I just forget?"

"Nothing is ever forgotten, not really. But you have to try," he told her, confident in her ability to do it.

Suddenly everyone in the room appeared shaken as what felt like the aftershock from an earthquake took place.

Knowing that time was running short, River Song felt that she needed to get things moving along. "Doctor! It's speeding up!"

He nodded toward River in acknowledgement as Amy passed him his sonic screwdriver. "There's going to be a very big bang. Big Bang Two. Try and remember your family and they'll be there."

"How can I remember them if they never existed?" Amy asked, with the tears threatening to fall.

"Because... you're special. That crack in your wall, all that time, the universe pouring into your head. You brought Rory back...you can bring them back, too. You just remember, and they'll be there."

He could see the moment when the realization of what he intended to do suddenly hit Amy. " _You_  won't."

"You'll have your family back. You won't need your imaginary friend any more," he said with a weak laugh. Could he face more loss? "Amy Pond... crying over me, eh? Guess what?"

"What?"

"Gotcha." No. No more loss.

Amy jumped back, joining River and Rory as the Pandorica launched into the sky. There was a sudden beeping from River's communicator, a last message from the Doctor: "GERONIMO!"

The three remain cowered against the wall as the Doctor is set on a collision course with the TARDIS, watching his timestream unravel and the cracks in the universe close around him. He somehow finds himself with a sleeping, 7 year old Amelia Pond and can't help but take the chance to say goodbye even if it might only be in his own head.

" _It's funny. I thought if you could hear me, I could hang on somehow. Silly me. Silly old Doctor. When you wake up, you'll have a mum and dad... And you won't even remember me. Well, you'll remember me a little. I'll be a story in your head. But that's OK. We're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh? Cos it was, you know. It was the best. A daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away. Did I ever tell you that I stole it? Well, I borrowed it. I was always going to take it back. Oh, that box, Amy. You'll dream about that box. It'll never leave you. Big and little at the same time. Brand new and ancient. And the bluest blue ever. And the times we had, eh? Woulda had... Never had. In your dreams, they'll still be there. The Doctor and Amy Pond. And the days that never came. The cracks are closing. But they can't close properly until I'm on the other side. I don't belong here any more. Live well. Love Rory.(kisses her head) Bye bye, Pond."_

The day was finally here, 26 June, 2010. Amelia Pond officially married Rory Williams.

For some reason, Amy can't help but feel incredible sadness on what should be the happiest day of her life. No matter what Rory says, there is something lingering in the back of her mind. A feeling that something, no some _one_  is missing.

_That's it!_  "There's someone missing...someone important. Someone so, SO important," Amy began.

"Amy, what's wrong?" Rory asked.

"Sorry. Sorry, everyone. But when I was a kid, I had an imaginary friend. The raggedy Doctor. My raggedy Doctor. But he wasn't imaginary. He was real. I remember you! I remember! I brought the others back, I can bring you home, too. Raggedy man, I remember you, and you are late for my wedding!"

In the silence the follows, the glasses start to tinkle against each other as the ground starts to shake and the chandelier begins to sway.

"I found you. I found you in words, like you knew I would. That's why you told me the story...the brand new, ancient blue box. Oh, clever. Very clever. Something old. Something new. Something borrowed. Something blue!"

With those words, the TARDIS begins to materialize in the middle of the floor and Rory looks up, amazed that he could forget about him. "It's the Doctor!"

And at that same moment in an old, outdated motel room just outside Monument Valley, Utah, Rose Tyler's eyes snapped open as a golden light faded from around her.


	4. The Impossible Astronaut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The events of Lake Silencio as observed by a former companion.

Forcing her eyes to focus, Rose stared at her hands in disbelief as the strangely familiar golden glow gradually faded away. She heaved a sigh and closed her eyes before a searing pain flashed through her head. She had never had a migraine before, but she imagined that this was worse.

It took several hours of slow, deep breathing with a pillow over her eyes to block the light, but finally the pain had subsided. There was still a slight  _something_ in the back of her head, but it was manageable. Now that she was able to think, it was time to figure out exactly what was going on.

More than anything right now Rose wanted her mum. She reached into her jacket pocket and grabbed her mobile, dialing Jackie's number. When the call didn't go through, she checked the number and tried again. Twice. Next she tried her dad, Pete, with the same result. She made her way through friends and co-workers, all with no luck despite having what appeared to be a full signal.

Just when she was about to give up and decide what to do next, there was a knock followed by a slip of paper being slid under the door that interrupted her thoughts. "What the hell?" she wondered, even more confused by her surroundings. Slowly, Rose walked over to the door and picked up the paper. On it was a list of books along with a map to what appeared to be a nearby library.

She had traveled long enough with the Doctor to realize that there was something larger at play here, so she decided to go along with the task that was now set before her. It wasn't long before Rose arrived back to her motel room with several heavy history books in her arms and a brown paper bag of Chinese takeaway between her teeth. Settling in on the tiny sofa in the room, and thanking her lucky stars that her credit card still worked despite somehow being in America, she looked over the book list and began to make her way through the volumes.

_At the personal intervention of the King, the unnamed doctor was incarcerated without trial in the Tower Of London. Two nights later a magical sphere some 20 feet across was seen floating away from the tower, bearing the mysterious doctor aloft._

"Okay, that was strange..." she muttered to herself, moving on to the next title.

Three weeks later, Rose had read through the nearly 2 dozen titles on the mysterious list. In each she found at least one reference to the Doctor from some point in human history. There was the incarceration in the Tower of London, a POW in a German war camp, an unconfirmed affair with Queen Elizabeth the First, and (perhaps the most bizarre of all) a painting by Vincent van Gogh that appeared to be of the TARDIS.

How was this possible? People in Pete's World knew virtually nothing of the Doctor. He didn't exist there, other than as John. But, no. She would not let herself go down  _that_ road right now. But there was something to be said for these encounters, for the historic references.

_What if... No, it couldn't be. But- Maybe? Is it possible?_  Was she back? Back in her actual universe, the right one... The one with the Doctor? She hasn't been able to reach anyone at home since she woke up. Could that be why? On a desperate whim, Rose grabbed her mobile again. This time though, she dialed a number that hadn't worked for years.

* * *

"Oi! This is it, yeah? The right place?" Amy asked Rory as they exited the school bus into the desert valley air. It wasn't what she had expected.

Rory looked around, taking in their vast, empty surroundings. "Nowhere, middle of? Yeah, this is it."

"Howdy!"

The couple turned toward the voice only to find the Doctor lying on the hood of a red 1960s station wagon.

"Doctor!" Amy exclaimed.

"Ha! It's the Ponds!" he shouted, jumping up off of the hood. "Pond One and Pond Two! Hello, Ponds, come here!" He didn't bother to mask his excitement, hugging Amy on the spot. "You are a flirt, aren't you?" he questioned when she pulled him tighter into the embrace.

Coughing his feigned annoyance, Rory interrupted their embrace with a gentle reminder of "Husband!"

"And Rory the Roman! Oh, come here!" And just like that, Rory was pulled into his own bone crushing hug.

In an attempt to break away from the Doctor's embrace without hurting his feelings, Rory decided to offer what could be taken as a rare compliment, "Hey, nice hat."

"I wear a Stetson now, Stetsons are cool."

Before the Ponds could respond, they hear a gunshot and are shocked to see the Stetson blown off the Doctor's head. The three turned to find a new figure silhouetted against the sun, blowing on the muzzle of the gun before placing it back in the holster on her hip.

"Hello, sweetie." River Song. Of course.

* * *

From Rose's perch along the rocky front on the shoreline she could see the small party of 4 as they arranged themselves on a picnic blanket a good distance from the lake's shore. Now she just needed to figure out who they were and why she felt this strange compulsion to stay hidden and observe them.

She watched with a puzzled expression as the man in the bowtie lifted a bottle of wine in what appeared to be a toast.

"And since when do you drink wine?" the ginger one asked, her question drifting over to Rose.

"I'm 1,103 - I must have drunk it some time. Besides, Napoleon gave me this bottle! Well, threw it," he replied, immediately followed by a rather large swig from the bottle which he promptly spat back out. "Oh, wine's horrid! I thought it would taste more like the gums."

_Wait, what?_ There was no way that Rose heard him correctly. She couldn't have. Only one man that she knew of in this universe could claim to be that age, and he didn't wear bowties - unless…?

"1,103? You were 908 the last time we saw you."

"You've put on a couple of pounds. I wasn't going to mention it."

_Rude! And still not ginger…? No. It was not possible._  Rose was about to move closer to the group in an effort to better hear what they were saying when the ginger girl suddenly looked her way.

"Who's that?" she asked, causing Rose to nearly jump out of her skin before she realized the girl was looking at a point well above her. She looked up in the direction that the girl was indicating, not seeing anything there.

"Who's who?" the other man asked.

The girl shook her head, as if coming out of a trance. "Sorry, what?"

"Ah! The moon, look at it! Of course, you lot did more than look, didn't you? Big silvery thing in the sky, you couldn't resist it. Quite right," the bowtie-clad maybe Doctor chimed in.

Suddenly the roar of an approaching engine interrupted the group. A pickup truck drove up onto the sand behind them and an older man stepped out. The Doctor got to his feet and waved to the new arrival.

"Who's he?" Amy asked. Rose smirked to herself, for once knowing something that the others didn't.

Everyone suddenly jumped to their feet as the woman with incredibly curly hair pointed to the lake. "Oh, my God!"

Rose turned her head to look with the others as an astronaut rose from the lake itself, stopping just beyond the water's edge.

The Doctor was the next to speak. "You all need to stay back. Whatever happens now, you do not interfere. Clear?" Without waiting for a response, he began walking toward the astronaut.

"That's an astronaut. That's an Apollo astronaut in the lake. Look," the younger man, Rory stated.

Rose could do nothing but watch, entranced as this man that she was now certain was the Doctor stood in front of the astronaut on the beach.

"Hello. It's OK, I know it's you."

She could see that the astronaut opened its visor in response, but couldn't see the face in the helmet from her vantage point.

"Well then…"

The group watched in silence from afar as the Doctor bowed his head and the astronaut raised its arm and fired, causing the Doctor to stagger backwards.

"Doctor!" Amy yelled, attempting to rush to the Doctor but finding herself held back by Rory and River.

"Amy! Stay back! The Doctor said stay back!" River yells.

Rose could do nothing but watch the scene unfold as the astronaut fired again and the Doctor fell to his knees. Her hands flew to her mouth as she whispered to herself, "Regenerate. If that is really you, and I have somehow made my way back here, you bloody well better regenerate!" Rose clutched her hands to her head and fought the scream that was begging to be released.

Sure enough, they all could see the regeneration cycle begin. The energy began to waft from the Doctor's hands as he slowly returned to his feet, and Rose could feel the relief mixed with nervous anticipation at the sight of it.

"Doctor!" Amy screamed again. Rose realized that she must not know, must not understand what it meant.

In response, the Doctor looked over at the group of his friends and simply said two words, "I'm sorry."

His head tilted back back as the regeneration process kicked into high gear. Almost in slow motion the astronaut fired again, and the Doctor staggered backwards. Rose found that she suddenly lost the ability to control her limbs. Her legs gave out beneath her dropping onto the sand, hyperventilating when the astronaut fired yet again, before slowly turning and disappearing back into the water as the Doctor collapsed a final time.

Sobs wracked through Rose's body, but her grief was such that she still managed to stay silent. The others couldn't hold back though as they ran to kneel by the Doctor's limp body.

Amy was crying, disbelief coursing through her. "River, he can't be dead. This is impossible."

"Whatever that was, it killed him in the middle of his regeneration cycle. His body was already dead. He didn't make it to the next one."

"Maybe he's a clone or a duplicate or something…" Amy rocked back and forth, trying to convince everyone that he couldn't be dead. That there had to be something they could do.

Finally, the man who had pulled up in the truck came down to them, carrying something in his hand. "I believe I can save you some time. That most certainly is the Doctor, and he is most certainly dead. He said you'd need this."

"Gasoline?"

River sighed. "A Time Lord's body is a miracle. Even a dead one. There are whole empires out there who'd rip this world apart for just one cell. We can't leave him here. Or anywhere."

"Wake up! Go on, wake up, you stupid bloody idiot!" Amy pleaded, resting her head on his chest but not finding either heart beating. "What do we do, Rory?"

"We're his friends," River said, sadly. "We do what the Doctor's friends always do. As we're told."

"There's a boat. If we're going to do this...let's do it properly," Rory added.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Re-reading this chapter makes me really want to edit things, and change how much of this story was written. However, given the scope of the story, that is extremely unlikely to ever happen. As a result, all will be posted in its original state. Painful or not.


	5. After the Pyre

The Doctor, with a bowtie and floppy hair. The proper Doctor, her Doctor was dead. Actually dead. There he was, floating away on his funeral pyre in the middle of Lake Silencio, all alone. Rose could no longer contain the scream of anguish that she held back as she watched the earlier events unfold. She curled up into a ball, her body once again overcome with grief. Mourning his loss yet again, for the 5th time. How much more could she possibly endure?

* * *

The flames from the pyre were still burning, although starting to diminish, and Amy, Rory, River and Canton Everett Delaware III, the man with the gasoline, had long since gone.

"All clear, Captain," one of the Teselecta controllers said.

"Doctor," the Captain called. "The mission has been accomplished."

Smiling slightly to himself, the Doctor replied "Excellent. Well done!"

"Sir, what will you do now? They all think you're dead, that the fixed point stands. Dr. River Song is scheduled to return to prison for your murder."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that, thank you." He was distracted. Something wasn't quite right. There was something he missed, he could sense it. "Right, well. Now then!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Must dash! Will stay in touch - keep doing what you do, and I shall do the same."

The Doctor teleported from inside of the Teselecta, materializing on Lake Silencio's shore. He snapped his fingers and heard the welcome sound of the TARDIS doors opening as his ship appeared where he had left her safely cloaked. He was right to fix the cloaking mechanism so that it could also be undone from the outside.

As he walked up to the TARDIS, the Doctor smiled, feeling her familiar presence inside his mind welcoming him home. But mixed in there was something else, that same familiar sensation that he couldn't place earlier. It was there, taking root again in the back of his mind, only different now. Grief. It was grief, a feeling he knew all too well.

The Doctor turned, trying to find the source of this pain. The only light in the darkness surrounding the lake was the muted beam pouring from inside the TARDIS. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, hoping that it would help to guide him.

Something pulled him toward the rock formation just down the shore from where the TARDIS stood. Perhaps the TARDIS herself was pushing him that way as well, it was hard for him to tell. As he hesitantly walked that way, he heard it. The unequivocal sound of complete and utter despair. He took off running, unable to endure the sound of such pain and not do anything to try and fix it.

He nearly tripped over her in the darkness, skidding to an abrupt halt when he came upon her figure curled in the fetal position on the ground, her face buried in her arms as she convulsed with a palpable sorrow..

"There, there now. Can I help?" the Doctor asked as he knelt down before the girl and pulled an handkerchief from his pocket. The girl took a shaky breath and slowly moved to a sitting position, which he took as a positive sign. With an encouraging smile, he introduced himself. "Hello, I'm the Doctor."

Her head immediately jerked up, the moonlight shining against her wide eyes and mascara and tear streaked her cheeks. "What..." she breathed, before her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted back onto the sand.

"What! But, how…? No! Ro- Rose?" he stammered, with a quiet desperation in his voice. He quickly lifted her in his arms, rushing back to the TARDIS. "You can't, this can't be..." The doors closed behind them as he carried Rose up the stairs and to the infirmary.

The Doctor ran every noninvasive scan that he could think of, not wanting to cause her pain. He could find nothing wrong with her other than the fact that she was there. Back with him in his TARDIS. The ghost of a smile appeared on his face as he sat down beside her. Rose. His Rose. He gently brushed a stray lock of hair off of her face and behind her ear before taking her hand in both of his and holding it to the brow of his bowed head. The TARDIS dimmed the lights in the room, helping to calm the Doctor's shaken nerves.

* * *

Rose gradually began to wake up, her body feeling unusually stiff. Her eyes snapped open as the events of the previous night came flooding back to her. She bolted upright, inadvertantly knocking the Doctor from where he had fallen asleep while keeping vigil at her bedside.

"What? Not sleeping, confirming synapses!"

"D- Doctor?" Rose whispered. "Is... Is that really you?"

"Rose Tyler," he responded, with great reverence. He hesitated slightly as he reached his hand to her face, his eyes begging permission before gently cupping her cheek in his hand.

She brought her hand to meet his, closing her eyes as silent tears began to fall.

"We'll have none of that now," he gently said as he wiped a tear away with his thumb.

"But you died..."

"No, can't have done or we wouldn't be here in the TARDIS."

"I saw you, the astronaut..."

"Yes, and no. It wasn't me. That is to say it was, but not really."

"That doesn't make any sense..."

"Rose Tyler. What have I always said? Rule number one?"

"Don't run off?"

The Doctor looked at her, confused. "Really? No, that's rubbish. No one follows that rule, it'd be nice if they did though. No, rule number one: the Doctor lies."


	6. The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe, Part 1

_The Doctor lies_. Something about those words didn't sit right with Rose.

"You've changed," she whispered.

"Of course I have. I've lost everything important to me."

"And I haven't? My mum and dad, my little brother, my friends... Not to mention John..." she trailed off.

"John?" The Doctor's hearts clenched thinking of his Rose with someone else.

"Your right hand, the metacrisis," she said rather harshly. "We couldn't just keep calling him the Doctor. No matter how you insisted, he wasn't you..."

"Right. Of course." He mentally shook himself, deciding to try another approach. "Well, that still doesn't explain how you're here. I know, I know for a fact that all of the cracks between the parallel world and this one were sealed," the Doctor repeated, running his hand absentmindedly through his hair and resting it on the back of his neck.

As angry and hurt as she was, Rose couldn't help but smile. The gesture was so familiar to her, reminiscent of the Doctor she remembered... Of John. Her smile faltered a bit at the thought and she sat in one of the console room chairs.

"Well, like I told you before, I don't know what happened," she reiterated. "I was just sitting at home, yeah? Last I remember, I was in my flat wanting to go to bed, and that's it."

He sat beside her, desperate for answers. "Do you remember anything, anything at all?"

"I don't know!" she shouted, hugging her knees to her chest and burying her face in her arms.

"Rose-"

"26 June, 2010," she said suddenly. "I woke up here on 26 June." She raised her eyes to meet his.

The Doctor stared at her in disbelief, his mouth agape. "What did you say?"

"Does that mean something to you?"

"The 26th of June, 2010. It's not possible... I restarted the universe! Everything was supposed to be fixed, sealed off, made right."

"You what? Restarted the-"

"Universe. Blew up the TARDIS, fixed all of time and space, yes. But that still doesn't-"

"Back up a tick. You blew up the TARDIS?" Rose scoffed. "You poor old girl, why do you put up with him?" she asked the ship, stroking the console lovingly. The TARDIS briefly dimmed her lights in response, causing Rose to smile.

"Hey!"

The TARDIS suddenly jerked and the Doctor was thrown from his seat although Rose managed to brace herself. And then the time rotor started.

* * *

"Rose?" the Doctor called. "Are you here?" He had been hesitant to leave her, but she insisted that she'd be alright on her own, that she needed some time to think. Now he wasn't so sure that it had been a good idea.

"Yeah, here" she replied from down one of the corridors. He walked toward the sound of her voice, surprised and yet not when he arrived at the door to her room. He took a deep breath and slowly turned the knob to enter.

His mind went blank. Whatever happened earlier, whatever he said and saw, whatever he was planning to tell her no longer mattered. It all flew out the moment he crossed into her room and she looked up at him from where she sat on the floor, surrounded by the things that had been left behind all those years ago. He didn't allow himself to acknowledge what he was missing until now, everything felt complete.

"What are you wearing?" she asked at the exact moment he asked her what she was looking at.

"What?" they also said in unison.

She laughed a bit and pointed at him. "You first. What's with the space suit?"

"What? Oh!" He had forgotten he was wearing it still. "The usual, saving the Earth from an alien invasion, falling from their ship to the ground, and being discovered by a lovely woman named Midge? Marge? No, Madge! Yes, Madge Arwell. Think I gave her a bit of a fright, but she was nice enough to drive me to the TARDIS. Only took a few tries..." Rose raised an eyebrow in question. "What? It's the 1930s, had to try a couple of police boxes before finding the right one!"

He crossed to her bed and sat down. "Happy Christmas, by the way."

"It's Christmas? Well, guess that explains the alien invasion, yeah?" she said with that tongue in tooth smile. God, he had missed that smile.

He grinned at her. "Yes, and we have somewhere that we need to be."

* * *

The children's' faces watched skeptically from the car windows as the vehicle pulled up the long driveway toward the manor house. It seemed the type that would have had a group of servants looking after it in its heyday, but had since fallen into a state of disrepair.

"Is it haunted?" The younger of the two, a boy, asked.

"Is it draughty?" The girl chimed in.

Their mother ushered them out of the car and followed them up to the house. "This is no good," she said. "Where's Mr Cardew? He was supposed to be here."

"Maybe it's haunted by the ghost of Uncle Digby," the boy said.

The girl shot a disdainful look at her brother. "Cyril, Uncle Digby is still alive. He's in a home in Battersea."

"Mr Cardew!" their mother called, knocking on the door.

"But why do we have to come here?" Cyril asked.

"Because of the bombing, stupid."

"I like the bombing. It's exciting."

"Will Father be here?" the girl asked their mother. "He will, won't he? You said he'd meet us at the house."

"He'll be here, of course he will. You don't need to keep asking about it."

Their attention was diverted by the sound of the door lock turning.

"Father!" they exclaim, running toward the door.

Instead of their father though, they heard a muffled voice in response. "Sorry! It's the door, it's developed a fault."

"Well, why are you trying to sonic it when you know it 'doesn't do' wood?" Another voice, a woman's, replied.

The door appeared to be stuck, not wanting to open fully.

"Hello? Mr Cardew?"

With a loud bang that echoed through the house, the door finally fell open and the Doctor stuck his head out from behind the other door.

"There we go! Well, come in, in you come. I told you I'd get it open," he added to the young woman standing behind him. She rolled her eyes in response.

The three new arrivals walked slowly into the front hall, the Doctor now behind them.

"Mind your step," he advised.

"Don't worry, the back door is still, broadly speaking, operational," Rose said as the Doctor pushed the door back into place.

"Right, then, may I take your cases?" the Doctor offered.

The three responded with a unanimous "Thank you," as they each set their suitcases on the floor.

"Lovely," he smiled. "Would you mind carrying them for me? I need to show you round." He walked around them, taking Rose's hand and heading up the stairs.

"No, wait! Who are you?"

The Doctor stopped and turned. "I'm the caretaker."

"But you're not Mr Cardew."

"I agree."

"But I don't understand. Are you the new caretaker?"

Leaving Rose on the landing, the Doctor walked back down to the family in the entryway. "Usually called the Doctor. Or the Caretaker. Or Get Off This Planet. Though, strictly speaking, that probably isn't a name. Hello, Madge Arwell," he said, shaking her hand.

"Hello."

"And Cyril Arwell. And Lily Arwell." He shook each of the children's hands in turn before running back to Rose's side. "And this, of course, is Rose Tyler. Now, come on, come on, lots to see. Whistle-stop tour. Take notes, there will be questions."


	7. The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe, Part 2

Rose felt rather proud of the Doctor. Despite their personal difficulties, and they still had quite a few to resolve, she had agreed to set them aside when they arrived at the house two days earlier. After he explained the situation, she helped him to make quite a few improvements to the place that promised to provide the children a much needed respite from the war and the difficult times ahead. The Arwell family needed this now while he and Rose had all the time in the world to resolve their issues.

They made their way through the house, showing the family many of the new enhancements that were now available for their enjoyment. These ranged from chairs in the sitting room moving about like the teacup ride at Disneyland to the lemonade tap on the kitchen sink.

"Lemonade?" Cyril asked.

"I know!" the Doctor beamed.

"You won't forget about that one twice when washing dishes," Rose muttered to Madge, while the Doctor's mouth twitched with a hidden smile.

The Doctor led the group back to the main staircase where he promptly stumbled when the stairs didn't move as he had expected.

"Staircase. Seems to have broken down. We'll have to walk up."

The children laughed, following the Doctor has he continued the tour, pointing at different doors.

"Rose and I have rooms up there, stay away. Beware of panthers."

"Panthers?" Madge repeated, shocked.

"They're terrifying! Have you never seen panthers?" He replied, moving on with the tour.

It took a moment, but Rose noticed that they were short a member of their party. She doubled back to find that Cyril had stayed behind, looking up at the stairway the Doctor had indicated toward the attic.

"Cyril," Rose smiled. "Come on then, you're going to miss the best part!"

The two made it back to the rest hand-in-hand as the Doctor opened a door to reveal a room done in varying shades of blue with gold and brown. It had a half-canopy over the bed and a small fireplace.

"Mum's bedroom," he informs the group at large. "Grown-up, your basic boring."

He then opened the door to the next room. This one was more like it, closer to a playroom than a bedroom. It contained a myriad of toys and games for both children. Knowing that the Doctor was simply an overgrown child himself, Rose grinned as he raced around the room showing off his handiwork.

"Lily and Cyril's room! I'm going to be honest... masterpiece. The ultimate bedroom. A sciencey-wiencey workbench. A jungle! A maze! A window disguised as a mirror. A mirror disguised as a window! Torches for midnight feasts and secret reading. Zen garden, mysterious cupboard, zone of tranquility, rubber wall, dream tank, exact model of the rest of the house... not QUITE to scale, apologies... dolls with comical expressions, the Magna Carta, a foot spa, Cluedo, a yellow fort."

"Where are the beds?" Cyril wondered.

"I couldn't fit everything in," he began, slightly affronted. "There had to be sacrifices. Anyway, who needs beds when you've got... hammocks?!" The Doctor nodded to Rose who pulled a lever releasing the hammocks from the ceiling. "I know!" he stage whispered.

"But how do you get on?" Cyril wondered, after failing to do so.

The Doctor grinned. "Watch and learn, kid." He then made a running leap, overestimating the distance and falling between the hammocks to the floor. Rose snickered behind her hand, trying to cover it up as a cough.

"For God's sake!" Madge yelled.

"This hammock has developed a fault!" He started muttering to himself about the work he would now need to put in to make it work properly.

"Can you please stop talking?" Madge cried in earnest. "Can you please just stop?"

Rose shot him a warning glance, making it clear that he had overstepped. "Sorry," he said, sounding truly contrite.

"Children, go downstairs."

"Why?" Lily asked. "Are we leaving?"

"Yes! No! I don't know. Just, please, go downstairs!"

"I know," Rose interrupted, before an argument could escalate. "How about you and your brother try out that lemonade tap?"

The children both grinned, ran down the stairs to the kitchen. as the Doctor gave Rose a grateful look.

"Why are you doing all this?"

"I'm just... trying to take care of things. I'm the caretaker."

"That's not what caretakers do."

"Then why are they called caretakers?"

"Their father's dead."

Rose walked over to the Doctor, sliding her hand into his for support. "We are so sorry," she said.

"Lily and Cyril's father... my husband... Is dead, and they don't know yet. Because if I tell them now, then Christmas will always be what took their father away from them, and no-one should have to live like that. Of course, when the Christmas period is over, I shall... I don't know why I keep shouting at them."

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a look that spoke volumes , this time in complete agreement with each other. It was Rose who responded. "Because every time you see them happy, you remember how sad they're going to be, and it breaks your heart."

"Because what's the point in them being happy now if they're going to be sad later?" the Doctor added. "The answer is, of course... because they are going to be sad later. Now, we'd better get downstairs. I think they may have found the main sitting room."

"Mother!" Cyril and Lily called from downstairs.

"He may have also done a little work 'repairing' in there as well…" Rose informed Madge as the three headed back downstairs to join the children.

Sure enough, they had. The room looked like something from a Christmas display in a store. There was a large tree in the center with model trains and planes circling it. Ribbons were draped from the ceiling. On the floor was a large present, almost as tall as Cyril. The children turned in amazement as the adults entered the room.

"I know!" the Doctor repeated.

"Look at that present!" Cyril called, turning over the tag. "It's for me!"

His sister came to see. "It says it's for all of us."

"I'm the youngest, I get to open it first!"

"Doesn't say who it's from. Mother, who left this here?"

Madge turned around to look at the Doctor, only to see him disappearing down the hall with Rose in tow..

"That man is quite ridiculous. You must stay away from him."

"I like him," Lily said.

Cyril had to agree. "I like him, too."

"And it's a nice tree, isn't it?"

"It's the best tree in the world."

"Yes. Yes, I suppose it is," Madge agreed, resigned.

"Say it, mother. Go on, please," Cyril implored. "Say the thing you always say."

Madge took a deep breath and forced a smile on her face. "This Christmas is going to be the best Christmas ever."

* * *

"Any chance you might have gone just a touch overboard?" Rose asked the Doctor, once they were safely back in the TARDIS.

"Why do you say that? Did you see their faces?"

"And did you see their mum's?"

"She'll come 'round," he said, leaning on the center console. "She has to."

Rose crossed over to him, entwining her arm with his and coming to rest her head on his shoulder. "I know that you're just trying to help make it easier on them… like you did for me."

He smiled slightly at the memory. "Rose Tyler. We've come so far since then, haven't we?"

"Still have a ways to go though, yeah?"

"I know," he sighed. "Not tonight though. I need to see if I can get the rest of Christmas ready in time for the big reveal tomorrow!" He quickly kissed the top of her head (surprising both of them, although both hid it) and stepped out of the TARDIS to finish wiring the next surprise.

* * *

As children tend to do on Christmas Eve, both Lily and Cyril were pretending to be asleep. It finally proved to be too much for Lily, who sneaked out of the room intending to look at the presents downstairs but became distracted at a strange humming noise coming from above. As she made her way upstairs to investigate, Cyril crept downstairs to the sitting room.

Lily found her way to the attic room that the Doctor had told them to avoid earlier, finding him sitting at the desk working on something while the TARDIS was in the center of the room.

"You were lying about the panthers."

"Famous last words."

"Why have you got a phone box in your room?"

"It's not a phone box, it's my... wardrobe. I've just painted it to look like a phone box," he said, hoping that Rose would hear the conversation and not come out with the tea that she was making for them.

"What are you doing?"

"Rewiring."

"Why would you rewire a wardrobe?"

"Have you seen the way I dress?" He held back the offended yell that almost made its way out as could practically feel Rose's smirk from inside the ship. Fortunately though, Lily didn't notice. She simply grinned.

"Who are you?" she asked. "Really, who are you?"

Before he could answer, the Doctor noticed a light blinking. "Your brother, where is he?"

"Still in bed, asleep."

"OK. Faulty, then," he said, using the sonic again on the wires.

Rose was starting to get annoyed as Lily had taken up residence in the attic with the Doctor. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy being back in the TARDIS, but she felt that she could be of more use to him outside, especially when the device blinked again. That and she was starting to feel trapped.

"You're sure he's still in bed?"

* * *

Somehow Rose managed to make her way to the children's room before the Doctor and Lily did.

"Looking for someone?" she smirked, lifting the blanket from Cyril's hammock.

"Oh, he's good!" the Doctor declared. "The old bear and duvet? Classic."

He quickly grabbed Rose's hand, who in turn grabbed Lily's, and rushed downstairs toward the sitting room, arriving just in time to see Cyril's hand reach back through the box to grab his flashlight.

"Cyril!" The Doctor yelled as he crawled into the box, with Rose immediately behind him.

Lily was incredibly confused. "What's happening? I don't... What is that?"

Rose reached back out of the box with her hand, reaching for Lily's. "Come on, quickly!"

Curiosity getting the better of her, Lily took the offered hand and followed them into the box.

* * *

Standing in the middle of a dark forest, the Doctor reached up and took hold of Lily from Rose, helping her down. He then turned to help Rose down, surprised when she jumped on her own, landing with a muffled thump in the snow beside him.

"Bit cold, yeah?" Rose said, rubbing her hands together. She gave him that same tongue-in-tooth smile, causing him to grin as he took her hand in his, not sure whether it was to help warm hers or because he felt it necessary to maintain physical contact with her.

"Let's try and find your brother, shall we?" The Doctor looked down at a cracked shell.

Lily looked around them in wonder at the surrounding forest. "Where are we?"

"In a forest in a box in a sitting room. Pay attention! He's about 20 minutes ahead of us."

"Doctor!" Rose hissed.

"But we just saw him."

"What? Time moves differently across the dimensional planes. What do they teach you in schools these days?" he mused, making his way through the trees.

"But I don't understand where we are!"

"We've gone through a dimensional portal... thingy."

"Well said," Rose smirked.

The Doctor winked at her.

"Well, what's that supposed to be? Where did it come from?"

"It was a present. And it wasn't supposed to be opened till Christmas Day. Honestly, who opens their Christmas presents early?" Rose raised an eyebrow at him. "OK. Shut up. Everyone."

"How about we just follow the footprints, yeah? It looks like that's what your brother did, after all," Rose suggested, leading the Doctor and Lily through the trees.

"I don't understand. Is this place real? Is it fairyland?"

"Fairyland?! Grow up, Lily! Fairyland looks completely different. Now, look here. These are Cyril's footprints, and these are the ones he was following. Notice anything?"

"The other footprints are getting bigger."

"Yes. Whatever your brother's following... it's growing."

"How is that possible?" Rose asked.

"I don't know," came the quiet response. Rose hoped that Lily didn't hear.

"Well, come on then we have to get after him!" Lily called, running ahead as she brushed against a tree. Icicles dropped and spheres formed. She stopped and stared, petrified.

"It's OK, you're fine. Don't worry," he assured the girl.

"Is that tree... alive?"

"Of course it's alive, it's a tree!"

"But is it dangerous?"

"Well, every rose has its thorns."

"Watch it!" Rose yelled, slapping his shoulder.

He flashed her a wicked grin. "You know what I mean," he said as they all bent to examine the spheres.

"They're like Christmas tree decorations."

"Yeah. Naturally occurring Christmas trees. How cool is that?"

"I don't understand."

"It's a big universe. Everything happens somewhere. Call it a coincidence, call it an idea echoing among the stars. Personally, I call it a brilliant idea for a Christmas trip. Or it should've... been. Do you know the difference between wind and trees talking to each other?"

"What?"

The Doctor licked the index finger of his right hand and held it up to test the wind while at the same time he placed the index finger of his left hand to his lips. Rose simply shook her head and walked up to a nearby tree, resting her hand on its trunk.

"No wind. I've been here many times, but I've never heard the trees so active. Something's wrong. What are you doing? What are you up to?" He asked the ornament, seeing a tree with a face appear. "I'm sorry, Lily. I really am, but there is something very wrong in this forest, and your brother's right in the middle of it."

"Why would you bring us to this place?"

"It was supposed to be a treat. This is one of the safest planets I know. There's never anything dangerous here."

As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a loud thud and the ground shook beneath them. He sighed.

"Ever think that there are sentences you should just keep away from?" Rose asked, eliciting a nod from the Doctor.

Rose heard another loud thud in the distance and felt a mild rumbling. "What was that?"

"Not sure. Shall we check?"

"What about Cyril?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, you two go on. I'll see what is happening back there," Rose suggested.

"What? No! You're not going off on your own..."

"I'm a big girl, I can handle myself. Promise."

"Rose..."

"Go and find Cyril. I'll catch up."

The Doctor didn't like it, but he knew she was right. He also knew that arguing would be pointless. So, instead, he pulled her into a hug and whispered "You come back to me."

"Always."


	8. The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe, Part 3

Madge didn't know what to do when she couldn't find her children in the house. There was no response from them, the caretaker or Miss Tyler despite her desperate cries. She was about to grab her coat and start looking outside when the large gift in the sitting room caught her eye. It was open, and there was a glow emanating from its center.

Curiosity winning out, Madge walked toward the box and peeked inside. She could hardly believe what she saw - surely that wasn't a real forest? Before she could second guess herself though she tumbled through, landing in the wet snow.

She pushed herself to her feet and brushed off the snow while trying to get her bearings and seeing a light in the distance. A gasp escaped her lips when the ground suddenly began to shake beneath her. Making up her mind, Madge began toward the light caution but fell back on the ground when a large metal leg stomped down on the ground in front of her. A bright light shone down causing her to shade her eyes with her arm when seemingly out of nowhere a male voice boomed out over an intercom.

"This tree farm is private property. You are trespassing."

She watched in horror as a sliding door opened in the "leg"of the machine and three armed soldiers ran out, with their guns aimed at her. She held her hands up as one of the soldiers scanned her.

"Unarmed, sir."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"No, wait!" the first said, checking the scanner again. "Armed! No, unarmed. Sorry, sir. She's wearing wool, sir. It's the natural fabrics, they interfere with…"

"Please say we can tell the difference between wool and side arms."

"We can tell the difference, sir."

"Can we?"

"Not always, sir, no."

A third soldier stepped out, lifting her visor and shaking her head at the other two.

"What are you doing here, and do you understand what is about to happen in this forest?"

"I was just…"

"Sir, I think she's a time traveller."

"Another one?"

"Who are you?" Madge sobbed. "It was Christmas!"

* * *

"It's just irresponsible! How can you do this to my brother?"

The Doctor sighed inwardly and mentally counted to 10. "It was meant to be a supervised trip."

"To the future?"

"The future, yes."

"On a different planet?"

"Yes, very different." The pair continued walking through the forest until they arrived at what appears to be a tower.

"Oh, look at that!" the Doctor exclaimed, heading immediately for the door.

"What, are we going in?"

"Well, Cyril did," he said, leading the way inside and finding a seated statue in the center of the room. "Interesting…"

"What's that? What's that statue? What is it? It's like a king."

"A king, possibly, but not a statue," he agreed, and yet not. "Look at the floor. This is what Cyril was following... the growing thing. Hatched from a bauble on a tree. Grew to this size in less than an hour, I'd say. Impressive. And so is this building! Yes. It's grown, see. This building, it isn't a building, it's a group of trees grown in the shape of a building, disguised as a building. Clever, I love. Clever, clever old forest. So, a forest grows a building. Why would it do that, Lily?"

"I don't know."

"Why's there honey in a honey trap?"

"Because it's a trap?"

"Exactly. Thing about people, we can never resist a door."

"So, this is a trap? We've just walked straight into a trap?" She was starting to sound worried.

"A people trap. Question is…" he whispered, "Why does a forest need people?"

They both turned their heads to look at the statue.

Lily headed back for the door. "We should go! We have to get out of here."

"Except?"

"Except Cyril's here," she nodded as the Doctor reached his hand behind him and Lily took it in hers.

"So, let's find Cyril."

* * *

"Ma'am," one of the soldiers began, "Please stop crying. I can't interrogate you while you're crying. This is a military engagement! There's no crying in military engagements!" He tried to hide it, but he began to cry with her.

"Corporal Ven-Garr, are you..."

"I'm fine, sir," he sniffled.

"What is wrong with you?"

"I have... mother issues, sir. It's all on file. It won't affect the performance of my duties."

"Sir, with regret, I'm going to have to lower my gun," the female soldier informed him.

"Why?"

The female solder shuffled her feet. "She is a crying, unarmed female civilian. I'm thinking of the visual."

"Nobody's looking."

"Doesn't mean there's no visual."

"That's exactly what "nobody's looking" means! It means there's no visual."

"I wouldn't say nobody, Captain," a voice familiar to Madge chimed in.

Just then Corporal Ven-Garr started crying again and turned to look first at the newest addition and then to his superior.

"I'm sorry, sir. It's under control. Do you want me to shoot her, sir?" he asked, aiming his gun at Madge.

"You will do no such thing!" Rose shouted, immediately stepping between Madge and the gun. "Alright there?" she asked the crying woman as the two soldiers set their guns on the ground.

"What are you doing?" the captain demanded.

"I am respecting them both as a woman, sir."

The captain sighed. "Okay. We're putting our guns on the ground. OK? Happy now? We're stepping away from our guns. Now can we interrogate you?" Both Rose and Madge nod. "We're from Androzani Major, the year is 5345, and we mean you no harm. Where are you from?"

Madge chose to reply first. "England, 1941," she said, pulling out her own gun and aiming it at the soldiers. "And there's a war on. Crying's ever so useful, isn't it?"

"Madge!" Rose admonished.

"If you say so. But there's nothing you could say that would convince me you'd ever use that gun."

"Really? Well, I'm looking for my children!"

Suddenly the captain wasn't so sure...

* * *

The Doctor and Lily slowly made their way through the tower, but encountered some difficulties along the way.

"Of course, it's wood! It's rubbish at wood!" the Doctor muttered to himself, slapping the sonic screwdriver willing it to work.

"It doesn't LOOK like wood."

"It's disguised wood. Have you been listening?"

"How can trees grow into a building?"

"Never underestimate a tree, Lily. I met the forest of Cheem once. She fancied me."

Lily looked at him as though he had two heads before turning to the window.

"Look at that!" she cried.

"Busy, actually... Yes, I know it's wood. Get over it!"

"But there are stars. There are stars coming out."

"That does happen, Lily. Cyril!"

"Yes. But out of the trees."

That got his attention. He rushed to the window and looked out. What appeared to be stars were indeed rising from the trees.

"What is that?"

"Life force. Pure life force, just... singing."

"Beautiful. Doesn't it make you want to cry?"

"Crying when you're happy. Good for you. That's so human."

* * *

"Madge, I really don't think this is necessary," Rose insisted while Madge had the female soldier tie the other two up against one of the trees.

"You're obviously not a mother then." She turned back to the soldier. "What is all this? Is it some kind of cockpit? My husband's a pilot."

"It drives the platform."

"Good, because I'm looking for my children. Miss Tyler?"

Rose nodded. "Lily is with the-"

"There's nobody else in this forest. There can't be," Ven-Garr interrupted.

"Well, they found their way in. Maybe her kids did, too."

"Then God help them."

"What?" Rose asked. "What does that mean?"

"We can do a scan for life forms," the female soldier offered. "We can detect people, even though they're far away."

"Then please stop patronising me and get on with it!"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Hold on. Why did you say, God help her children?" Rose demanded to know.

"This forest is about to be harvested."

"Harvested?"

"Androzani trees. Greatest fuel source ever. The entire area is being melted down for battery fluid."

"Melted down? How do you melt a forest?" Madge wondered as Rose placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Acid rain. The satellites are in position. Anyone still out there in five minutes... is going to burn."

"Well then, we have five minutes to sort this whole mess out," Rose informed the group.

* * *

The Doctor and Lily finally made their way into the next room only to find Cyril sitting unconscious in a what appeared to be a throne with a strange ring on his head.

"What's wrong with him, Caretaker? Is he dead?"

The Doctor checked the boy's pulse, which was thankfully strong. "It's OK, he's just unconscious," he said, turning to the statue in the room. "So, what are you, then? Not a king, a queen! The Queen Bee of the forest."

With no response, he turns to see more lights lifting from the trees.

"It's like the life force is leaving the forest..."

Another statue, this one male, arrived in the room and walked towards them. Once again the Doctor pulled out his sonic to use on both the wood king and queen as they advance. Nothing happened.

"Aliens made of wood! This was always going to happen, you know. Oh, Rose is never going to let me hear the end of this..."

Thankfully the two stopped quickly, flanking the chair.

"It's OK," the Doctor assures Lily. "I think they just want to talk to us."

The wood couple looked at Cyril and the circlet around his head lit up.

"They're scared," Cyril said. "Can't you hear them? The trees are screaming. Can't you hear?"

"No. But you can. You're connected to them." The Doctor was concerned now. Where was Rose?

* * *

Things were finally moving along for Madge and Rose.

"OK, picking up life signs about half a mile away," the female soldier informed them.

"Can we go to them?" Madge asked, desparate. "Can we move this thing?"

"I'm not trained, ma'am. Those two are."

Madge growled in frustration. "It looks a little like a plane. My husband flies a plane. He took me up once."

"It takes years of training! I'm scanning for an audio connection. We might be able to hear them."

Suddenly an automated voice could be heard on the platform. "Acid rain alert, five-minute warning. Prepare for beam-out."

"I'm so sorry!" the female soldier cried as she moved to the other two. "You have to find a way out!"

"Evacuate," the automated voice commanded.

"Acid fall is coming. You won't last two minutes!"

"Evacuate."

"Don't go!" Madge implored. "No, please wait! No! What am I going to do? I..."

"We can do this, Madge. We'll get to them," Rose assured her as the three soldiers teleported out of the platform leaving them alone.

"Where did they go?"

"Teleported out, but we'll be fine. We'll find the Doctor - er - caretaker, and the children, and get them home."

"Acid fall in five minutes. Unauthorized personnel will be incinerated."

Out of nowhere there was a crackling sound and they heard Lily's voice over the speakers,  _"Why have the stars left the trees?"_

_"Those stars," the Doctor started. "They're pure life force. Souls, if you like. And they're trying to escape because they think their home is going to burn."_

Rose sighed in relief at the sound of the Doctor's voice. Hope was not lost. She was positive that they could pull this off. Only three minutes to go...

_"Why can't they just float up into the sky?"_

_"They need to travel inside a living thing. Inside Cyril. You see, this... It's not a crown, it's a relay. They're turning your brother into a lifeboat! That's what this place is for, then. It's an escape plan, is that it?"_

"What are they talking about?" Madge asked.

"The trees. The soldiers said they were a power source," Rose said. "And he's working out how to save them..."

_The Queen reached a hand towards Cyril, wrapping it gently around his neck._

_"Don't you harm him," the Doctor warned. "Do not touch that child!"_

_Instead she spoke through Cyril in a distorted voice. "Your coming was foretold."_

_"Oh, hello! Are we lip-synching now?"_

_"We had faith. Your coming was foretold."_

_"There's no such thing as foretelling. Trust a time traveller."_

_"We waited, and you came."_

_"So, you've got an escape plan. Why aren't you escaping?"_

_"The child is weak."_

_"You mean he's a child."_

_"No, he is weak. The forest cannot live in him. But there are others."_

_"There certainly are, and the good thing is, I look great in a hat. So, let's get this thing off, eh?"_

_"You are also weak."_

_"I'm really not. Let's save a forest, Cyril?"_

_"You are not the one. You are weak."_

_This was going nowhere, quickly. "I'm really not."_

_The Doctor grabbed the circlet off Cyril's head and it shone fiercely in his hands. He struggled against it, gasping, groaning, screaming until Lily grabbed it, changing to a softer glow in her hands. The Doctor fell to his knees, panting heavily._

_"It's funny, isn't it? It's sort of... tingly."_

_"She is strong," the Queen said, "But she is young."_

_Lily suddenly pulled away with a gasp, dropping the circlet as the Doctor notices the rain outside._

_"The rain that burns. Acid rain..." he suddenly realized._

"Oh my god," Rose breathed. "It can't..."

Unable to take it anymore, Madge collapsed on the floor under the speaker, and Rose slid down beside her. The two held each other like a lifeline.

_"We have to get out of this forest, we're in terrible danger. This tower won't protect us for long," the Doctor said._

_"Where's Mummy?" Cyril cried._

_"She's coming. You know she's coming, because... because she always comes, doesn't she?"_

Madge sobbed, listening to her children cry out for her. Rose could only hug the woman to try and soothe her.

"Its alright," she said. "We're gonna find them and get them out, yeah?"

"How can you know that?"

_"Cyril, the way we came here, that door won't stay open for ever. Now, I'm not even sure if I can get us through the forest safely, but if we're going to have any chance at all, we have to go now."_

_"No. We wait for Mummy. Mummy always comes."_

"Listen to them. They need you and that's what we have to do. Now let's get this thing moving!"

Madge nodded through her tears and made her way to the captain's chair, turning knobs and flipping switches until the machine started moving forward.

Rose began clapping and jumping up and down. "We're coming Doctor," she whispered.

* * *

A loud thud followed by the ground shaking interrupted the argument between the Doctor and Lily and Cyril.

"What's that?" Lily asked as they all rushed to the window.

"It's an Androzani Harvester, but..."

"You recognise that thing?"

"More to the point... I think I recognise the driving! Madge has entered the forest!"

"Shut up, you ridiculous oaf!" Madge shouted as Rose laughed.

"Come on. This way ... you can do it, you can do it! Excellent driving! Hello!"

"Caretaker?"

"Yes!"

"You're fired!"

Still in something of a rush, Madge over-compensated the last turn and the harvester fell over sideways.

"It's OK, she's fine, don't worry. Stay here. Just stay here," the Doctor warned before rushing down to the entrance.

"Madge, Madge! You okay? Have you seen Rose?"

Madge entered the tower, her hood over her head and burn marks on her coat.

"Stay inside," she said. "The rain is frightful! Lily? Cyril?" She called, running upstairs.

The Doctor looked out the door at the harvester, fear stabbing through his hearts at the thought of Rose still out in the forest.

"Doctor?"

"Rose!" He shouted, radiating pure relief. "Wait there," he told her, grabbing the coat that Madge had discarded in her hurry to reunite with her children. "I'm coming!"

Holding the coat over his head, he rushed through the rain to Rose, still under cover of the harvester.

"Careful!" she called as he approached.

"Hello."

"Hello," she echoed.

They stood there for a moment, staring. It was impossible to tell who moved first, but they rushed toward one another meeting at the halfway point, their arms circling around each other.

He crushed her into himself. "Don't you ever scare me like that again," he whispered into her hair.

"Let's get everyone home, yeah?"

* * *

Once they made it safely back into the tower, the Doctor scanned the harvester with his sonic.

"Doctor... What's happening to the stars?"

Pausing from his scanning, he looked up at the sky and saw the "stars" converging on the tower.

"That is very not good. Come on," he said, leading Rose up the stairs by her hand, arriving in the throne room to see the "stars" being absorbed by Madge who was now wearing the circlet.

"The stars are going inside her," Lily explained. "She's taking the whole forest!"

When she had absorbed them all, the Doctor, Rose, and her children all stood staring at Madge, shocked.

"Madge!" Rose cried. "Are you all right? Talk to me. Madge, can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can hear you. I'm perfectly fine, thank you."

"Fine?! You've got a whole world inside your head!" the Doctor shouted.

"I know. It's funny, isn't it? One can't imagine being a forest, then suddenly one can. How remarkable!"

"You're OK? She's OK?" he asked the Queen.

"She is strong."

"She's strong? She's strong?"

"What's happening?" Rose asked, confused.

"Stupid me!" the Doctor exclaimed, understanding dawning upon him. "Stupid old Doctor! Do you get it, Cyril?"

"No."

"Lily, you do, don't you?"

"No."

"Course you do! Think about it! Weak and strong, it's a translation. Translated from the base code of nature itself. You and I, Cyril, we're weak. But she's female. More than female."

"She's Mum," Rose said, a smile slowly spreading across her face.

The Doctor grinned at her and nodded. "Exactly! How else does life ever travel? The Mother ship!"

The room suddenly disengaged from the rest of the tower, powered by rockets at its base.

"What's happening?"

"No idea. Do what I do: hold tight and pretend it's a plan," he instructed as he took Rose's hand in his.

"Yeah, that sounds about right..."

They all held tight to the sides as the ship took off through the vortex. Once things smoothed out, the Doctor pulled Rose to the window.

"This is... amazing."

"Where are we?" Cyril wondered.

"Technically, we're not anywhere. We've flown into the time vortex." He turned to the Queen. "You've got what you wanted... those idiots down there can burn your old home and you'll be safe out here. But these people helped you, and they're in my protection. Now help them. How do we get home?"

"Think."

"Madge, did you hear that?" he asked, kneeling in front of her. "You said it, but did you hear it? You've got to think."

"Think... what?"

"Think of home, just picture it. Feel it! You have to really feel it. Can you do that? Your mind is controlling this vessel. You can fly us all back for Christmas!"

"My head is full of trees, Caretaker. Can't you fly us home?"

"I don't have a home to think of. And, between you and me, I'm older than I look, and I can't feel the way you do, not any more. And you really need to feel it, Madge. Everything about home you miss, till you can't bear it, till you almost burst."

"Till it hurts? Is that what you mean, Caretaker? Till it hurts?"

"Yes. Yes."

Madge reached into her pocket and pulled out the telegram, gripping it tightly in both hands. She took a staggered breath.

"Well, then... home in time for Christmas!"

"What's happening? Where are we going?" Lily asked.

"Show them! Show them!" the Doctor shouted to the Queen.

She, in turn, raised her hand, making some of the translucent panes clear to make it easier to view what's outside.

"Ha! The time vortex. Your mother is flying a forest through the time vortex. Be a little impressed! What are you going home for? What's pulling you there? Please, try. Please, think."

All of a sudden, a memory of Reg holding one of the children as a baby flashed in front of them before changing to him in uniform waving goodbye.

"Reg!" Madge cried.

"Daddy!"

Rose wiped a tear away as more scenes of Reg and the children appeared before them.

"My Reg..."

"That's it," the Doctor encouraged. "Focus on Reg. Be careful, but focus on him."

"I don't know..."

"You can do this, Madge," Rose added. "How did you meet? You and Reg, tell me how you met."

"He followed me home. I worked in the dairy, he always used to follow me home."

The memory appeared, clear as day before them. "Look at Father. He looks so young!"

"He said he'd keep on following me till I married him! Didn't like to make a scene!"

"Just stay focused. Think of home. This thing, it works psychically... it'll find a signal and lock on." He pulled out his sonic to try boosting the signal when, of all things, Reg's ship appeared on the screen before them.

Madge let out a wail. "No. No, please, don't show me that! Please, don't show me that!"

"Is that Daddy's plane?"

"Please, I don't want to see that!"

"Please, no! No, no, no, Madge. We can't break the signal now, I'm sorry!"

"Not the night he died! I don't want to see him die!"

Rose gripped her arm as Cyril and Lily looked up at her.

"What do you mean...the night he died?" Lily asked.

"Please don't make me watch him die!"

"Mummy? Is Daddy dead? Mummy!"

The ship continued through the vortex, finally landing back on Earth. The Doctor comes to first and checks on Rose and the Arwell family, all lying on the floor.

"Cyril! Lily! Are you all right? Rose?"

"Yeah."

He then scanned the Queen, also lying on the floor.

"Are they dead?"

"No. They're just wood now. They've been... emptied. The forest has gone from your head too, hasn't it?"

"But where is it now?"

"The life force of the whole forest has transmuted itself into a sub-etheric waveband of light, which can exist as a..." The Doctor trailed off as he noticed Rose shaking her head. "The... The... The... souls of the trees are out among the stars, and they're shining, very happy. And you got them there. Well done, Madge."

"And where are we?"

"Home! Christmas morning! We've taken a bit of a short cut. Haven't you always wanted to do that?"

Lily hugged her mother, relieved to be home, but confused. "What did you mean, watch him die? Where's Father? Where is he? Where's Daddy? Why are you holding a telegram? Well, what does it say?"

"Please, just tell us!"

Rose took the Doctor's hand, moving toward the door. "Doctor..."

"Ah, yes. I imagine you'd prefer to be alone."

"I don't believe anyone would prefer that. Stay close, both of you, please."

"We'll be right outside," Rose said.

Madge knelt before her children. "Lily... Cyril... A few nights ago, your father, who, as you know, was the best of men and the bravest of pilots was flying home for Christmas. His plane was badly damaged, and his instruments failed him. Unfortunately, he was flying on a night where there was no moon, and because it was very cloudy, there were no stars... There were no stars to light his way."

"Did he get lost?"

"Yes, Cyril. He got so very lost."

"Sorry to interrupt," the Doctor burst in. "You might want to pop out here for a moment."

"Caretaker, I'm talking to my children!"

"We know, and we're sorry," Rose interjected. "But before you go any further-"

"You'd better come and look," the Doctor finished for her, straightening his tie and smiling as Madge and the children catch up.

"No stars to light the way, Madge? There was one."

"There was you!" Rose grinned.

"Madge Arwell, who flew a whole forest though the time vortex... plus one husband!"

They all look to the field in front of them, unable to process the fact that Reg's plane is parked there, complete with a puzzled Reg standing in front of it.

"He did it again, Madge. He followed you home. Look what you can do! Mother Christmas!"

"Madge!" Reg cried out. "What am I doing here?"

"It's Christmas Day, my love! Where else would you be?"

"Christmas Day? How?"

"We took a short cut."

The Doctor wrapped an arm around Rose's shoulder as she hugged both of hers around his waist. "Happy crying. Humany-wumany."

"Shut up," she laughed, through tears, turning from the happy family to head back up to the attic with the Doctor.

* * *

A few hours later, Madge walked into the attic and nearly screamed in shock when she recognized the TARDIS.

"Ah," the Doctor smiled as he stepped out and into the room.

"Of course! It's you, isn't it? My spaceman angel, with his head on backwards!"

"How do I look the right way round?" he joked, spinning around.

"Funnier."

"OK."

"So, you came back."

"Well, you were there for me when I had a bad day. Always like to return a favour. Got a bit glitchy in the middle there, but it sort of worked out in the end. Story of my life."

"Thank you," she said, hugging him tightly.

"You did it all yourself, Madge Arwell. But thanks for thanking me."

"Now, the last time I saw you, I went back the next day, but the police box had gone."

The Doctor grinned. "Yeah. You want to see how it's done?"

"No. I want you to stay for Christmas, please."

The Doctor stopped in his tracks. "Ah, well, you see, things to do, people to see."

"Of course, yes. You and Miss Tyler must have a family of your own."

"Yes. What? Well... no, actually..."

"Oh. Yes, yes, you said no family. But between the two of you there must be people who love you. Friends..."

"No. Well, yes. But... It's a long story... but they all think I'm dead. Never mind. Anyway, watch my box do its thing. It's really cool, you'll love it."

"No, no-one should be alone at Christmas."

"I'm fine, I don't mind. I'm really very good at... I have Rose."

"I'm talking about your friends! You can't let them think that you're dead! Not at Christmas!"

"It's complicated, very complicated, it's far too complicated..."

"You must tell them. At once. Off you go."

"Yes, Mum. I'll think about it." He kissed her cheek before heading back to the TARDIS. "Now, eyes on the box."

"Oh, Caretaker? What if I require you again?"

"Make a wish!"

With a grin, the Doctor entered the TARDIS. Madge stood there, watching as it dematerialized not noticing that Reg walked in just in time to see it disappear.

"What the hell was that?" he asked.

"It was just the Caretaker returning to the time vortex. It's a lovely place. I've been there myself! Shall we go downstairs?"

* * *

"It's always on Christmas," Rose observed, toweling off her hair as she walked into the console room where he was fiddling with things he really had no business fiddling with.

"What is?" He asked, distracted.

"Our first times out..."

The Doctor smiled slightly and nodded, although still not looking in her direction. "Seems that way."

"You miss them," Rose said with a sad smile.

"Why do you say that? We only just left," the Doctor said, deliberately misunderstanding her.

She threw the damp towel onto the jump seat and walked up behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest and resting her forehead between his shoulder blades. "You know that's not who I meant..."

He closed his eyes as he placed his hands on top of hers, deeply touched by the intimate gesture. Sighing, he couldn't help but feel whole again with Rose so close. Something in him stirred that he hadn't felt since he walked away from her on that beach. They both knew that there were still serious, and potentially life changing, conversations that they had to have and yet here she was, sacrificing herself for him yet again. Putting his needs above her own.

"Let's go, yeah?" she said. "I'd like to meet them, if that's okay with you. Besides, it's your turn to host Christmas. I've done the last few..."


	9. Comfort & Joy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And on with the show... time for past and present companions to officially meet.

"It's nice to be back in London for Christmas… it's been too long," Rose said as she followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS and across the quiet tree-lined street to the white house with the bright blue door.

The Doctor sighed, squeezing her hand in apology. "I know, and I'm sor-"

She shook her head. "Not the time."

Taking another deep breath, this one for courage, the Doctor knocked on the door.

"If that is more carol singers, I have a water pistol!" a woman's voice shouted from inside.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna like her," Rose giggled as he knocked again.

"You don't want to be all wet," Amy said, opening the door to prove she was in fact armed, "on a night like this." She froze, stunned.

"Not absolutely sure... how long…" the Doctor trailed off.

"Two years!" she cried, squirting him with the water pistol.

The Doctor wiped his face with a handkerchief Rose passed to him "OK. Fair point."

"So... You're not dead," she said, waiting to comment on the strange blonde woman standing next to him.

"And a happy New Year!"

"She told us."

"Well, of course she did."

"She's a good girl," Amy said fondly. "Well? I'm not going to hug first."

"Nor am I."

Rose rolled her eyes as they awkwardly tried to ignore each other. Finally, she shoved the Doctor toward Amy causing them to make eye contact and laugh before finally hugging.

"And who's this then?" she asked, nodding to Rose.

"I'm Rose. Rose Tyler."

"Amy" she smiled, shaking Rose's hand, before turning behind her. "Mr Pond! Guess who's coming for dinner!"

Rory came to join Amy at the door. "Whoa! Not dead, then," feigning shock.

"We've done that. And you two, we're about to have Christmas dinner. Joining us?"

"If it's no trouble."

"There's a place set for you," Rory informed him. "And room for another as well," he added, nodding to Rose.

"But you didn't know I was coming. Why would you set me a place?"

"Because we always do. It's Christmas, you moron."

Rory nodded before following Amy back down the hall. "Come on."

"Yeah, definitely going to like them," Rose commented, complete with tongue-in-tooth smile this time.

The Doctor hesitated a moment before stepping into the house with Rose. He paused again to wipe away a tear, only to see Rose smiling at him with her hand once again in his. He surprised himself by chuckling before leading her inside and closing the door behind them.

"Welcome to Casa de Pond," he boomed out to Rose.

"Williams!" Rory called over his shoulder.

"Pond." Amy and the Doctor responded.

"Sorry, we haven't been properly introduced yet. I'm Rory Williams," he said, reaching across the table to shake Rose's hand. "And this is my wife, Amy."

"I still say Amelia Pond is far more preferable to Amy Will-"

"Rude," Rose hissed.

"But she's ginger," the Doctor winked back.

"What?"

"Long story. Now the introductions are finished, I am famished. What's for dinner, eh?"

"It's Christmas, you daft alien. What do you think?" Amy told him as she poured glasses of wine for herself, Rory and Rose.

"Really?" the Doctor asked, eagerly eyeing a covered platter on the table. "Is that…?"

"Indeed it is. I give you: fish fingers and custard!" She lifted the cover with a flourish.

Rose nearly spat out the sip of wine she just took. "I- I'm sorry?"

"Oh, that's brilliant!"

She still looked skeptical.

"It isn't nearly as horrid as it sounds," Rory assured her.

"Horrid!? It's fantastic! Rose, here," he offered, holding out a piece for her to try.

"I'm good, thanks."

"You might as well give in," Rory stage whispered. "He won't stop until you do."

Rose steeled herself and nodded, knowing Rory was right. "Okay, fine." She took a small bite of the concoction that the Doctor offered and forced herself to smile as she choked it down.

* * *

The Doctor and Amy were sitting facing each other on the couch in the lounge while Rose helped Rory with the dishes in the kitchen.

"So, you've replaced us?" Amy asked. "You made us think you were dead for two years and replaced us?"

"Amelia Pond. I could never-"

"Picking up strays then?"

"Hardly. Rose is..." He sighed. "There are timey-wimey things... Oh, shut up. It's complicated."

"And River?"

"What about her?" Amy raised an eyebrow. "No, haven't seen her since the..."

"Haven't seen who?" Rory asked as he walked into the room.

"River."

"River Song?" Rose asked, not expecting the three stunned looks she received.

"How do you know River?" Amy asked, suddenly suspicious of the girl's intentions with the Doctor.

"I don't. Not really, we've never met. But John..." Her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes welled with unshed tears, catching herself off guard with even the casual mention of him.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_  The Doctor thought, mentally slapping his forehead.

He sprang from his seat, surprising Amy and Rory as he leapt over the back of the couch, to embrace her. "Oh, Rose," he sighed. "Of course he did, I'm so sorry. I should have realized..."

"Who's John?" Rory mouthed to his wife, who shrugged in response.

* * *

Rose excused herself shortly thereafter and returned to the TARDIS, where she promptly locked herself in her room and released a scream of pure anguish.

River Song. How could she forget about _River Song_? After being abruptly separated from her family she was so relieved to no longer be on her own, to find that the Doctor was alive, that she hadn't taken a moment to consider what that actually meant. The Doctor, well John, had told her everything about that day in the library. About the strange archaeologist and what she said to him to gain his trust. How saying those words could mean only one thing: River Song was his future. Which meant that Rose Tyler was his past.

Of course that wasn't strictly true. Rose had fought her way back to the Doctor, had her future with him, with John, the other version of him. It didn't turn out as they had hoped, but they were happy together in the time that they had. She knew all of his secrets just as he knew hers. The question now was whether or not to share that information. Or rather, was it worth sharing?

Rose's confused thoughts were interrupted by a quiet knock at the door. She was both hurt and surprised that the TARDIS would even allow him to find her, they had always gotten along so well, even more so since that fateful day on the Gamestation. Shaking her head, she hastily wiped her eyes on her sleeve before opening the door.

"Listen, I'm really not in the mood right now," she said.

"I just thought you might like some tea," unexpected voice replied. It wasn't the Doctor, but Rory.

"Um, sure. Come in… Sorry about the mess…"

Rory smiled kindly as he handed her one of the steaming mugs of tea before sitting down in an armchair. "I've never been in this part of the TARDIS before, is it new?"

"Not hardly. This has always been my room…" she trailed off again.

He looked at Rose, not quite sure what to make of her. From what he had gathered earlier, she was definitely a companion of the Doctor's. However, now he was starting to get the feeling that there was something more than what appeared on the surface. Something that Amy might not like.

"Have you been traveling with the Doctor long then?"

"No, and yes. Sorry, it's just complicated."

"That's exactly what  _he_  said."

"What else did  _he_  say?"

"Nothing really. He told Amy to leave you be," Rory informed her. "That might not have gone over so well… I think they're still arguing. So, I thought I'd come and check on you."

Rose didn't know why, but there was something about Rory that she instantly knew she could trust him. He seemed so genuinely concerned, so  _human_ , to use one of the Doctor's favorite adjectives.

"Thanks. For that, and the tea."

"Absolutely. And I should probably leave you alone and go check on them. You can get back to whatever it is you were-"

"No! That is, please stay. It's nice to have someone to talk to." She was starting to get teary again. "Sorry, I don't even know… this sounds so stupid, but I really miss my mum right now, ya know?"

"I can understand that, it's Christmas. Where is she?"

"Complic-"

"Complicated. Got it."

"It's not like that, really. I just…" Rose struggled to find the right words. How could she explain her history with the Doctor to this virtual stranger? As if in answer to her question, a light suddenly shone down onto the bureau, highlighting countless photographs that she kept there. "Thanks, old girl," she whispered.

"How long have you known the Doctor?" Rose asked, picking up the first photograph.

* * *

It wasn't that the Doctor didn't care about what Amy was saying to, well yelling at, him. He just didn't have time to deal with her nonsense right now. They would work it out, he would apologize for whatever slight she decided he had made, and she would forgive him. That's how they worked. They were best friends. At least that's how he justified storming from the house and toward the TARDIS while she was mid-rant. Rose actually needed him right now. Maybe. Hopefully.

Was it possible that she would be better off without him? He couldn't help but pause at the thought. What if she wanted nothing to do with him now that she had realized what he - no, what John - had meant in telling her about River. Oh, he should have had this conversation with her earlier. Things like this always came back to haunt him. Guilt was never in short supply.

He walked through the TARDIS corridors, slowing as he neared Rose's bedroom. He had only been in there the one time since she returned to him - her first night back with him after Lake Silencio. Before then he kept the room hidden, or rather the TARDIS thoughtfully did for him. It was too painful to see all of her belongings sitting there as she had left them, expecting to return all those years ago. He never would have dared to hope that she actually would.

The last thing that the Doctor expected to hear as he approached her door was laughter.

* * *

"No! I swear, its true," Rose laughed. "And now I think about it, he still owes me that 10 quid for Queen Victoria!"

"And she was fine with him in the leather?"

"What?" She looked over at the photo Rory was holding. "Oh! No... That was before, back when I first met him; he was all ears and leather. This was after he regenerated. Pinstripes and trench coat, with the hair..." The Doctor smiled wistfully from his hiding place in the hall as Rose grabbed another picture to show Rory. "Thanks for this, by the way."

"For what?"

"This. Listening, yeah? It's nice..."

Rory smiled, what else could he do? His heart nearly broke at her story, the family she left behind. He knew that the Doctor was capable of many things, horrible things, but to simply abandon someone like that when they so obviously loved him? And then there was River, his own daughter... He blinked, pulling himself from those thoughts and pointed to another picture. "So who's this?"

* * *

"Oi! You," Amy hissed, "Creepy stalkery man! Don't you run away from me! What're you playing at?"

"Shhh!" The Doctor responded, hoping they hadn't heard. Why was she always so loud?

"I know this door," Amy said. "It was always locked though..."

"Well, it would be as it isn't your room."

"It's hers then? But how-"

"You both might as well come in," Rose stated as Rory chuckled. "You're not nearly as stealthy as you think you are."

Throwing the Doctor a superior look, Amy entered Rose's room. "No bunk beds! Why does she have no bunk beds?"

"Sorry?"

Rory looked politely puzzled. "That's a fair point. He always gave us bunk beds..."

"Bunk beds are cool..." the Doctor muttered.


	10. Fairy Tales

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet the Bad Wolf...

Amy had a lot on her mind as she got ready for bed that night. Her Raggedy Man was back, which was good. He had a new, old?, companion, which was not. He obviously cared a great deal for this Rose Tyler, and they certainly had a history together. But he was married. Not just married, but married to her daughter. No, this just wouldn't do at all.

"Penny for your thoughts, wife?" Rory asked as she got into bed.

"What do you make of her?"

"I like her. She's certainly been through a lot."

"What d'you mean?"

Rory sighed. He felt as though he was being put in an awkward position. Rose had confided in him, but Amy was his wife.

"What? Husband, what aren't you telling me?" Amy eyed him suspiciously.

"Okay…"

* * *

"I remember this," the Doctor said quietly, holding up a picture of his ninth incarnation and Rose in Cardiff.

Rose smiled, remembering their final encounter with the last surviving member of the family Slitheen. "That was a mouthful, Raxacoricofallapatorius. But I got there, finally."

"I was very proud."

"Have you seen Jack?"

"No," he replied simply as he continued to flip through the photos, smiling at some memories and frowning at others. Suddenly he came across a collection that he didn't remember at all. He recognized Rose and Jackie, of course. And even his metacrisis. But who was the child in his arms? And, more importantly, why did the Doctor feel tears stinging his eyes?

"What've you got there?" Rose asked, moving to sit beside him so she could see the picture in his hand. She rested her head on his shoulder and stroked the photo with her hand. "Tony, that's my brother Tony. You remember?"

"Yes, of course," he nodded, feeling numb.

"Why'd you do it?" she breathed. He didn't pretend to misunderstand her this time, but then nor did he answer. "Why did you do it?" she asked, this time with more force behind her words.

The Doctor hesitated, unsure of how to respond. And that was not something he was used to. He always had a clever answer ready. But not this time, not for her, not for Rose. How could he explain that it killed him to leave her on that beach with that poor, human excuse of a Time Lord hybrid? How could he tell her that she had awakened a part of him that he never thought would surface again? How could he look her in the eye and say that, even to this day, he loved her with every fibre of his being and yet still walked away forcing her into a life without him?

"You know what?" she said, pulling him from his reverie. "It doesn't matter, not now." She grabbed the pictures from his hands and clutched them to her chest. "I think that Memory Lane is closed, yeah? Goodnight, Doctor."

"Yes," he mumbled. "Quite right. Sleep well, Rose Tyler."

As the door closed behind him, she shook her head. "Sleep. Right..." she trailed off, a familiar glow appearing behind her eyes.

* * *

"And then she landed back in this world, ultimately making her way to the lake. And we all know what happened there…"

"So this John Smith, he was the Doctor? But not this Doctor, the old Doctor."

"Apparently. And he was left with Rose and her family in the parallel world."

"That's… that's just awful. But what now? What about River, does she know?"

"I don't know…"

"But Rose knows about her because the Doctor met her when he was younger."

"Yeah, but River hasn't met him yet."

"These back-to-front, front-to-back timelines are starting to give me a headache. I need sleep…"

"As do I," he yawned. "Goodnight, Mrs. Williams."

"Goodnight, Mr. Pond."

* * *

The alarm blared as River Song let herself back into her cell at Stormcage Prison. She rolled her eyes as the armed guards came running.

"Really, boys? Must we do this every time? I'm breaking back in, not out!"

The lead guard motioned for the others to stop. "False alarm. The prisoner is confined."

"Yes, thank you. Now if you don't mind, a girl does need her privacy," she winked.

River busied herself with getting ready for bed. She didn't need much rest, but it had been a rather exhausting day. Every time she saw the Doctor it became harder and harder, as she fell more in love with the man that knew less and less about her. She wasn't sure how she would handle the day when he didn't recognize her at all. Something told her it was coming soon, but she didn't want to think about it. Instead, she busied herself with updating her diary.

She saw the light reflecting on the wall before she heard any footsteps approaching.

"What is it?" she asked, sounding bored. "I told you, I'm in for the night."

"Professor River Song."

"Sorry, you're a bit early," the annoyed reply came. "Just River Song still, I'm afraid."

"You have never been just River Song. We have that in common."

"Who are you?" she asked, turning to the front of her cell to see the outline of a woman shrouded in a bright golden light.

"You are a child of the TARDIS, and I am her Wolf."

River was intrigued. "Her wolf?"

"The Bad Wolf formed from within the heart of the TARDIS; I have existed across space and time. And I am here to tell you, Professor River Song, that what you fear most is coming."

"Thanks, but no. Fairy tales are for children, and I'm no longer scared of the Big Bad Wolf."

"This is no fairy tale. I will help you. Together, we will save Him and, in turn, the universe."

River slowly started to back away from the strange woman, shaking her head as she moved. "No, don't say that. I'm not ready for that yet…"

"One never is, but time must keep moving on. Everybody knows that everybody dies."

* * *

Lying on her bed in the TARDIS, Rose's eyes suddenly popped open as she gasped desperately for air.


	11. Life Goes On

Neither Rose nor the Doctor mentioned anything about the conversation that didn't take place at Christmas. They both knew that it would happen eventually, but chose to bury the thought just below the surface. Instead, they busied themselves with traveling as they used to; acting as if nothing had happened and continuing to fall back into dangerously familiar patterns. A playful swipe here, a just-too-long embrace there, always running hand-in-hand toward the next life threatening situation.

"Do me up, will you?" Rose asked, indicating the back of of the floor-length lavender chiffon gown that she was wearing.

The Doctor popped up from his spot under the time console where he was working. "What's all this?"

"I've decided that I want to go out. However, I needed to dress the part, so that means this monstrosity. It's called a corset, and it's incredibly painful but necessary, and I can't do it myself. So if you wouldn't mind…?" Of course he obliged, as she knew he would.

"It's late. Don't you ever sleep anymore?" the Doctor teased as Rose checked her makeup in a mirror.

"Don't you?" she countered.

"Where are you going, anyway?"

"I told you, I'm going out. If you'd like to come, you are welcome to. If not, well, don't wait up!" And with a final lipstick check, she walked out of the TARDIS doors.

The Doctor stared after her, unsure of what to do. Did she even know where she was going? Then again, did he know where they were? Yes, yes he most certainly did: Paris, in the early twentieth century, gauging by her dress. Well, if that was this case, his normal attire simply wouldn't do. He quickly made his way to the wardrobe to find something more suitable for an evening out in turn of the century Paris.

With a final flick to the brim of his top hat and a straightening of his gleaming white bowtie, the Doctor made his way outside to locate Rose. Fortunately it didn't take him long to find her; he heard her laugh coming from just around the corner. Smiling slightly, he plucked a flower from the garden that was running along the street and quickly rounded the corner before stopping short.

Rose was on the arm of a  _man_.

Nothing,  _nothing_ , could have prepared the Doctor for that sight. Without knowing how it happened, he found that hands were somehow clenched in fists of rage as a stabbing pain coursed through both of his hearts. He knew that he had no claim on her, but still… He quickly ducked behind a tree hoping to avoid detection. Perhaps he could simply watch them from afar and then determine how much of a threat this stranger could actually be. Yes, that was the best plan.

He peered around the trunk to see that the pair had walked into a nearby museum. He thought it was a strange choice, but there must have been some gala-type event taking place. Now it was decision time: should he patiently wait outside for their return, or should he follow them inside and see what information he could gather?

Inside it was.

* * *

"I'm so glad that you called, Rosie," Jack said, grinning from ear to ear. "It's been years- no, centuries - and I have to say you look just as beautiful as when I found you dangling above London."

"Oh, shut-up," she replied, blushing slightly. She squeezed his arm for a moment in embarrassed thanks. "I'm just glad that you were free!"

"As if I would have missed this? Besides, I'm just as surprised that it took you so long to call again. Things haven't exactly been boring, but with you and the Doctor around they were always more interesting."

"Well, I don't know that we'll really be seeing him tonight. Things have been a bit... strained," she went on to explain as they made their way upstairs to the theatre.

"How so?"

"It's a really long story."

"You know I've got nothing but time, sweetheart."

She smiled. "Yeah, sorry about that, too. I didn't know." She looked up at him, silently imploring him to both believe and forgive her for this curse that she had so callously placed upon him.

"It wasn't your fault," he said softly. "You saved my life. Always remember that."

"I'll try," she grinned, although it quickly faded. "Well, you might not blame me for that, but I still haven't forgiven _him_  for what he did."

Jack wisely nodded rather than voicing his opinion on the subject. If he had to admit it, he felt bad for the Doctor. The man had been faced with an impossible decision - keep the woman he loved with him and ultimately watch her wither away, or let her go and live a long, happy life with someone who could grow old with her. How was he supposed to know that he was a complete idiot? Furthermore, that he was a complete idiot who was incapable of flying incognito.

"Don't look now, but I think we may have company," Jack whispered as they took their seats. "Just around 5 o'clock."

Rose casually peered out the corner of her eye, and sure enough there the Doctor was. Trying, and failing, to look casual. She smiled slightly and shook her head before accepting the glass of champagne that Jack offered her. "Thanks."

"Cheers, beautiful!"

"Cheers!"

* * *

The Doctor ignored most of the show. There was some singing, some dancing, but really he took little to no notice. Instead, he kept his eyes trained on Rose. How her hand rested on top of his. How he turned to her and they nuzzled their foreheads together. What was she playing at with that lothario? Given the angle, the Doctor still couldn't make out the face very clearly. However, he was certain that the man was far too pretty to be any sort of real threat. Probably just some two-bit Casanova, planning to use her for whatever he could get.

In fact, he was so deep in his glaring thoughts that he failed to notice that the show had ended until the crowd was starting to disperse. In desperate need of a quick exit, the Doctor slipped through a nearby door. He carefully looked around the bend only to see that Rose and her  _friend_  had just walked past.

Heaving a sigh of relief that he wasn't spotted, he turned down the hallway that he was in. Walking through another door, he found himself in a dressing room of sorts.

"Do sit down," a heavily accented female voice called from behind the changing screens.

"Yes, right. Of course," he replied, taking a seat on a chaise lounge and examining his watch.

"Well, hello," she said, causing him to look up.

"Hel- Hello," he stammered, looking up.

The woman smiled seductively and removed her dressing gown.

He had somehow stumbled into the dressing room of Mata Hari.

* * *

Amy and Rory finally arrived home after a long day with family and friends.

"If I never see another Easter egg," Amy started as she collapsed onto the couch.

"Wine?"

"Have I told you how much I love you?" She turned her face up toward him as he walked by, pausing to bend down and kiss her.

"There's a message, by the way."

Amy groaned as she stretched to reach the button on the answerphone.

_"Hello, Ponds! It's the Doctor-"_

_"And Rose!"_

_"Yes, and Rose! Just checking in. How are you? Not much to to report here... We did surf the fire falls of Florinall Nine though."_

_"Not deliberately, it was just the easiest way out after a nasty run in with the Potato Heads."_

_"Rose, you know they're called Sontarans!"_

_"Whatever, they look like talking potatoes."_

_"Be that as it may... Oh, Ponds! Yes. What else? Yes, met Mata Hari in her Paris dressing room."_  They could hear Rose laughing in the background. _"What an interesting woman."_

_"And while he was recovering from that trauma, I made it into the music studio and laid down some backing vocals!"_

_"They really are quite good, we'll bring you a copy. Anyhow, we should be with you any day now. Literally any day. Helmic regulator's playing up. Can't get the temporal steering right."_

_"Was that the Parthenon?"_

_"Oh, dear. We seem to have collided with ancient Greece. Ugh!"_

Rory handed Amy a glass of wine and sat down next to her as the machine clicked off.

"To the Doctor."

He nodded. "The Doctor."

* * *

Amy and Rory continued about their lives, relishing in the domestics that the Doctor fought so hard against. They enjoyed the day to day of married life, their friends, and their jobs.

Rory was most pleased with the new arrangement. He began working regular nursing shifts at the local hospital, and felt as though he was making a difference in the world by helping people. He was happy to settle down into a normal routine.

Amy was happy that Rory was happy, but she couldn't shake the feeling of restlessness that hit her every so often. She craved adventure, and while she found solace in her budding writing career, she still longed for the unknown that life with the Doctor had provided. Sadly, it had been nearly a month since they last received any word from him.

And then it happened. Their bedroom door came crashing open and the Doctor burst in, screaming.

"Argh! Stop everything!"

Rory shot up in bed. "Whasgoingon?"

"Doctor!" Rose shouted, coming up behind him.

"Bedroom!" Amy admonished him.

The Doctor immediately covered his eyes as Rose rolled hers.

"We have a rule about the bedroom," Rory reminded him.

"No one on this planet is safe right now. We have to solve this before it's too late. Get your clothes on. If we move fast we at least stand a chance and-"

"You have no idea what he's talking about, do you?"

"No," Amy and Rory answered.

The Doctor turned to Rose who shook her head. "No. Helmic regulator again. Too early. Wrong point. As you were."

"So sorry," Rose added, pulling the Doctor from the room.

"Doctor," Amy shouted. "You can't just go like that. What's happening? Don't we need to know?"

The Doctor turned back into the room and sat next to Amy on the bed as Rose leaned against the door frame. "Popped up in the wrong order. Easy mistake to make. Nothing to alarm you. Forget I was ever here. I'll be back soon enough, I would have thought. Everything's fine, pretty much. Don't worry about the future. The future is really safe. Really, really, safe. Sleep well." He smiled down to the Ponds before jumping up, grabbing Rose's hand, and returning to the TARDIS.

Rory sighed and turned onto his side. "I really hate it when he does that..."

* * *

"Have you seen him?" Rose asked, walking into the library.

"Who?" The Doctor didn't even bother looking up from his book, which annoyed Rose, so she walked over to him and pinched the volume shut. "What?"

"Don't you 'what' me," she warned. "You've been sulking ever since Paris."

"I have not," he retorted, knowing full well that she was right. Although they presented a united front to the outside world, he had been avoiding her when it was just the two of them in the TARDIS. Fortunately the helmic regulator was still acting up, so that provided a convenient cover allowing him to ignore the fact that he was unable to reconcile his feelings on what he saw in Paris.

"If you want to act like a child-"

"Phone!" the Doctor yelled, relieved to literally be saved by the bell. He jumped up and ran to the control room.

_"So, yeah," Rory said. "Were you here last week? I only ask because we woke up the other day to discover an Ood on the loo."_

"An Ood?" The Doctor set down the phone and turned to yell down the hall, "Rose! I found him!" He picked the phone back up and continued. "We were wondering where he'd got to. I thought he'd just gone for a walk in the TARDIS, but he must have wandered off when we popped in the other night. If it was the other night. Rose actually rescued him from the middle of the Androvax conflict, which was very thoughtful given her history with the Ood. I was taking him back to the Ood Sphere. Anyway, he's not being a nuisance, is he?"

_"Well, actually... He seems to think that he's our butler."_

_"Rory, come and finish breakfast," Amy called in the background._

"He's conditioned to serve. The best thing is, let him do just that. I'll come and pick him up tonight. Whenever tonight is. Oh no, got to go. Power drain's threatening to cause the Tardis to implode." An alarm bell started blaring. "Oh no, that's bad."

Rose ran into the control room, her hands covering her ears. "Why's it doing that?"

"No, no, no, no, no, don't do that! Listen, Rory, I've got to go..."

"You can fix it, yeah?" Rose shouted above the din. She could feel another headache coming on, and was less than pleased.

"Of course I can!" He promptly began banging around, pulling levers, flipping switches, and hammering various components.

"Careful," Rose yelled just before the TARDIS jerked, sending her tumbling across the room.

"Rose!" He could only watch in horror as she fell in what felt like slow motion, her head hitting the metal stairs before she finally landed on the floor. The Doctor practically flew to her side.

Being as gentle as he could, the Doctor cradled her head in his hands and checked for lacerations. His fingers trembled when he discovered a warm, wet patch at the base of her skull.

"My Doctor..." Rose whispered, her eyes rolling back into her head before closing completely, her hands limp at her side.


	12. Biology Lessons

_My Doctor_.

What did she mean? The last time the Doctor had heard her say those words to him... No. But was it possible? Deep down, buried in her subconscious, did she still feel the same? Still think of him as 'her Doctor' just as he would always think of her as 'his Rose?'

Before considering this new revelation further, he knew that he needed to get her to the medical bay. He just couldn't find the courage to physically move her. Head injuries were serious, what if he did more harm than good? He felt a not-so-gentle nudge in the back of his mind, the TARDIS urging him to move.

"This is all your fault, you know!" He shouted at the ship, desperate to lay the blame anywhere but on himself. The lights in the room flickered, expressing a certain amount of annoyance that the Doctor ignored. He fleetingly considered leaving Rose where she was and quickly piloting the ship to a hospital, but he knew he couldn't leave her side. Especially not after what she had said.

Once again he was lost to these introspective thoughts, too distracted to notice what was happening right in front of his eyes.

* * *

It had been a wonderful, celebratory evening. She knew that it was against the rules, but then again she rarely followed the rules anyway. Especially his. Furthermore, her mother was in pain because of that stupid man so how could she resist?

Telling Amy that the Doctor wasn't actually dead had been one of the easiest decisions she had ever made. They laughed, and danced, and drank wine. When Rory joined them later that night, she felt all the better for it. It was one of the few times in her life that she was able to share so fully with her parents, all of them knowing the same information at the same time. So when River returned to her cell that night and found the strange woman who had only introduced herself as 'Bad Wolf' once again waiting for her, she was understandably less than thrilled.

"Visiting hours are over," she said coldly, her good mood instantly vanishing. "Perhaps you should come back in the morning."

"You gave them a very generous gift tonight."

"Who  _are_  you?" River glared.

The mysterious blonde's mouth twitched up in a smile. "I told you."

"Don't give me that. How about a name? A real name."

"Wouldn't a better question be how I'm here?"

"Oh, please. This may be a prison, but we all come and go as we please," River smirked.

"So it would seem," she grinned, taking a seat. "Fine then. Rose. My name is Rose."

"Hello, Rose. That wasn't so hard, was it? Now what do you want."

"I told you before. I'm here to help."

"Well, you're a bit late then. Doctor saved, universe restored, all is well."

"For now."

"Time energy aside, you're just a right little ray of sunshine, aren't you?"

Once again Rose grinned, pleased. "You recognized it!"

"Sweetie, amongst other things, I am a twice-regenerated time traveler. Yes, I recognized it."

"Sorry," Rose said, shaking her head. "Of course you did. And so you of all people should know what it means."

River puzzled over that statement. Time energy enabled many things, but normally it was temporary or at least somewhat confined. She had never seen it serving so raw a purpose, literally radiating from someone so consistently and yet not leading to any change at all. It was almost as if...

"You're a fixed point, but constantly in motion," she finished out loud.

Once again Rose smiled. "Something like that, yes. There was a time that I was lost, but that has since been corrected."

"And why should I trust you?"

"Like I said before, I'm here to help you. There are things you need to know in order to-"

"Save the Doctor and the universe, yes. But why should I believe you?"

"Your vortex manipulator. Where did it come from?"

"What? I got it from a friend..."

"Off of the wrist of a handsome time agent." River's eyes widened and she nodded. "Captain Jack Harkness."

"There's no way to prove that," she whispered.

"Sonic it," came the response, followed by an annoyingly cute tongue in tooth grin. Before River could react, Rose suddenly turned her head as though she heard something in the distance. "I've got to go. But I'm sure we will see each other again soon."

And with those abrupt words of farewell, Rose was swallowed into the blinding golden light as River shielded her eyes.

* * *

It took a moment, but the Doctor finally pulled himself together enough to carefully scoop Rose up in his arms and carry her to the medical bay. After gently setting her on the examination table, he busied himself with checking the gash on her head. Once again, he failed to notice the golden energy emanating from her eyes.

It wasn't until the wound began to heal before his eyes that he stepped back in shock, finally seeing what he had long ignored.

"That should not be possible," he said, scanning Rose with his sonic. He looked at the readings and shook his head before scanning her again with her same results. "Time energy?"

Rose awoke with a start, gasping for air.

"Rose!"

"Doctor." Taking in her surroundings and the last remnants of the energy still circling, she simply sighed. "It's a lot, I know."

"But, how?"

"This beauty," Rose stroked the wall of the TARDIS, "This old girl, all those years ago, she saved me."

"That's not possible," he repeated, sinking against the wall and onto the floor and pressing the palms of his hands to his forehead.

Rose moved from the table and sat beside him on the floor. "Listen, I know it's-"

"Impossible? Absurd? Preposterous? Take your pick, because the end result should be the same. Rose..." His voice was almost pleading, begging for her to tell him that it was all some elaborate hoax.

Her heart broke at the tone of his voice. "I know, I said the same when John first said something."

The Doctor looked over at her through eyes that have both seen and lost so much, and all she wanted to do was take the pain away. She slowly reached over, cupping his cheek in her hand and wiping a tear from the corner of his eye with her thumb.

"It's alright, yeah? I'm here, and I'm fine."

"But how?" he whispered. "When I took the time vortex in from you it killed me..."

"That's just it though. She knew what she was doing, the TARDIS. She changed me, took a part of me into her just as I took a part of her into me... The Bad Wolf lives on."

"I didn't know though... How did John?"

"He noticed little things, silly things. Like how I'd never get sick, or whenever I'd get a new injury at work-"

"Injury?" She really was still completely jeopardy friendly.

"Well, like one time I had a nasty run-in with someone that resulted in a broken wrist. By the next morning, it was completely back to normal though. He looked at me like I was mad!"

"What'd you do? Hide a bottle of skelegrow?" His mouth twitched up in a slight smirk at the thought.

"Seriously? What is it with you and  _Harry Potter_? He said the same thing..."

The Doctor looked down at his hands which had somehow ended up folded into hers. Once again the corner of his mouth twitched up. "It's brilliant, and I always liked J.K."

"Yes, I know. But can we please focus?" She waited for the Doctor to nod. "Well, after that happened, John was more determined to figure out what was going on. We went to Torchwood where he could-"

"Torchwood? Why would you go to them?"

"Because that's where we worked, it made sense to go there rather than-"

"Why would you work for Torchwood though? After everything that they've done…?"

"Not over there. Parallel world, remember?" Rose was starting to get a bit frustrated now. She was trying to explain how she had changed, but it involved sharing certain aspects of her life in Pete's World, specifically with John, that she hadn't been ready to discuss. These constant interruptions were not helping her resolve.

"As I was saying," she began, eyeing him to see if he'd dare interrupt again, "John thought it might be safest to go there rather than the hospital. The…equipment was more to his liking."

"How so?"

"Well, he helped to design a lot of it, yeah? So he knew what it could do. First thing was he tested my blood." Rose suddenly closed her eyes.

_"I promise, it won't hurt a bit," John said, walking over to her with the needle._

_Rose steeled herself. "Right. Yeah, of course," she said, taking a gulp of air in preparation. She hated needles._

_"Just look at me, look at my eyes." Rose did as he requested and stared into the deep, chocolate brown eyes and was surprised when he suddenly kissed her nose and grinned. "All done!"_

_"Really?"_

_"Well, you know me, very hypnotizing," he winked._

_She slapped him playfully in the shoulder. "Shut up!"_

_Rose watched John as he carefully inserted her blood sample into the machine. She smiled slightly as he pulled his dark rimmed glasses from his pocket and it didn't take very long before results began appearing on the monitor._

_"That can't be right…"_

_"What?" His words made her nervous._

_"Rose, do you know your blood type?"_

_"O-negative."_

_"Of course you would be. Universal donor, that's my Rose." He shook his head as if trying to solve an equation in his head._

_"What's that supposed to mean?"_

_"It's just that… well, there's something more, but I'm not entirely sure. Let's run another test…"_

"What did he mean that there was something 'more'?" the Doctor asked.

Rose sighed. She hadn't been too thrilled about that bit either. "He decided to look a bit deeper, so he ran a DNA test."

The Doctor's head suddenly snapped up. A DNA test, of course! Rose said that the TARDIS had changed her, so why... His train of thought hit the proverbial brick wall as a disturbing realization struck.

"You're no longer completely human," he said, his manner curiously subdued.

Rose shook her head as she replied with a resounding "Nope!" She even went so far as to pop the "p" as he used to do, before grinning that special grin of hers.

And then, without pausing to think about it or allowing time to second guess himself, the Doctor took Rose's face in his hands and crushed his lips to hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it... the first official kiss.


	13. Asylum of the Daleks, Part 1

Rose had thought about telling the Doctor that she had changed many times, not just since she had returned, but ever since John had explained it to her back in Pete's World. She had also imagined how he would react. Never, never in a million years did she expect that he would respond like this though.

Nor did she expect to respond to him with equal enthusiasm.

Acting reflexively, she arched her body into his and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her fingers wound themselves through his hair pulling him closer to her and deepening the kiss.

The Doctor smiled internally when he felt Rose's body shudder in response as his hands trailed down her back. He had dreamed about this moment for what seemed like a millennia; from the moment he first took her hand in his he had felt that inexplicable pull, knowing that he wanted her. He never acted on the impulse, although for the life of him right now - his hand caressing her thigh until she responded by hitching her leg up around his hip - he couldn't remember why. Finally now, after all this time, she could actually be his.

Yes, they still had a number of things to discuss, the resurgence of Bad Wolf not being the least of it. The Doctor knew that he owed her the complete story of his relationship with River. Not to mention the explanation that he owed to River, and her parents. Oh, that would not be good. Amelia Pond would not be happy with him.

At that thought, Amy's angry face appeared in the Doctor's mind. He suddenly jerked back from Rose, who looked up at him somewhat dazed. Her chest was heaving as she panted through swollen lips, a look of intensity that he had never seen before, and desparately wanted to see again, playing on her delicate features. It was almost enough to pull him back into the moment, but he resisted. Rose deserved so much better than this.

"I- I'm so sorry, Rose," he stammered, untangling himself from their intimate embrace. "I shouldn't have done that..."

"What?" She was very confused by this sudden change in attitude.

"Please forgive me?"

"What?" she repeated, running a hand through her hair. "Yeah, sure. Okay."

"Thank you," he breathed. He reached his hand back toward her, as if to stroke her cheek, but quickly pulled it back as if thinking better of the gesture. He smiled sadly and left the room, leaving Rose wondering what the hell just happened.

* * *

Jack shook his head as he walked into the small sidewalk cafe and saw Rose sulking at a table. As he pulled out a chair he ordered a bottle of wine from their server.

"Hey, beautiful," he said, kissing the top of her head before finally taking his seat.

"Hey, you," she replied with a forced smile.

"Wanna talk about it?"

The server arrived then with the wine, and Rose purposely looked away as two glasses were poured. "Anything else?"

Jack politely waved her away, waiting until they were once again alone before turning Rose's head to face him. "Tell me. What did he do this time?"

Rose sat in silence for a few minutes, staring at the glass of wine in her hands. She spun it around a few times before finally looking up at Jack, tears welling in her eyes.

"Did you know he got married?" She watched as Jack's jaw dropped, anger forming behind his carefully constructed façade. "Not technically," she clarified. "It was an aborted timeline, so it didn't really happen, but still... He left me on that damn beach - twice! - but he married her."

"And he told you this?" Rose shook her head. "Then how...?"

Rose contemplated how best to answer Jack's question. She didn't know if she was really ready to talk about it, but Jack was probably the only person in the universe that she would trust with this. The ghost of a smile crossed her lips.

"He kissed me..."

Jack pursed his lips to try to hide the grin that was threatening to appear. He failed. "How was it? I mean, how do you feel about that?"

"You're awful," she said, throwing a napkin at him. "And, if you must know, it was a fantastic snog... But he was-"

"How fantastic are we talking?"

"Jack!" And then it happened. Something that had been missing from Rose's world since that night: a laugh escaped her lips. It started small, but quickly grew into something more, something healing. Yes, coming to see Jack was definitely the right thing to do.

* * *

The Doctor sat lost in thought in the workspace under the time rotor. He and Rose had barely said two words to each other since he had crossed the invisible line that had existed between them from the beginning. He absentmindedly ran a finger over his lips, his thoughts interrupted when the time rotor suddenly started to move.

"What? No!" he yelled, jumping up and running to the controls. Before he could regain control of the ship, she landed. He looked at the monitors trying to discern his location, his eyes wide with fear when he recognized the coordinates.

Bracing himself for what lay beyond the TARDIS doors, the Doctor held his head up high and stepped out, thankful this once that Rose was not with him.

Skaro. He had landed smack dab in the middle of a Dalek ship orbiting over their home planet of Skaro.

_"The Doctor is acquired!"_

* * *

It had been several months since Rory had been in the same room as Amy without an attorney present. If it was up to him, that wouldn't be the case, but as she had seen fit to throw him out of their house and begin divorce proceedings, he was left with little choice. And so it was with a heavy heart that he walked into the unfamiliar building, ignoring the security guard, determined to put an end to his prolonged suffering so that he could finally move on with his life and officially put Amelia Pond behind him.

Amy was in the middle of a photo shoot when an assistant came running in, trying to get her attention.

"I'll just be a minute," she told the photographer as she went over to her assistant.

"Sorry to interrupt, but... Well, your husband is here."

"I don't have a husband."

"Apparently you still do. He's waiting in the dressing room."

Amy took a deep breath and silently counted to 10 before heading to the back room. She couldn't help but wonder what Rory was doing there and, furthermore, why he still called himself her husband. Didn't she pay her attorney a small fortune to take care of this already?

"What?"

Rory rolled his eyes in an attempt to mask his pain. "You have to sign these." He set a folder with their divorce papers in it down on the table.

"And then that's it, we're not married anymore?"

"Just like magic."

Before she could come up with a reason to delay, Amy signed the papers and pushed them back over to him. "Can't chat, working."

"Right. Working. I thought you were just pouting for the camera."

"Rory-" she began, almost thankful when he quickly ran from the room, dodging the makeup artist that had just entered. Honestly, she had no idea how the sentence would have ended anyway.

Deciding that she would like a minute alone, Amy was about to ask the new arrival to leave when she noticed something strange: an eyestalk had extended from the woman's head. Before she could react to this new development, a hauntingly familiar voice declared:

_"Amelia Pond is acquired!"_

* * *

That was it. Barely a sentence exchanged between them, and their marriage was dissolved. Rory kicked a pebble as he rounded the corner, longing for something to take the pain of his broken heart away. Unfortunately, all that he could see appeared to be happy couples. Every direction he turned his head, everywhere he looked. All he had ever wanted was to be with Amy and make her as happy as she made him. All he ever wanted to do, all he ever did, was love her. Apparently that wasn't enough.

He turned the corner, walking past various stores and restaurants toward the bus stop when suddenly a familiar sound caught his attention. Looking back to the cafe he just passed, he noticed her, Rose. Fleetingly he thought of approaching her in the hopes of talking to the Doctor. However it seemed that she was with someone else, another man. Great, another happy couple. Well, at least Amy would be pleased about that…

Ugh! There she was again, sneaking into his thoughts. No, he had to stop this. Rory looked up the street and was relieved to see the bus pulling up. As quickly as he could, he climbed the steps and took a seat by the window. He rested his temple against the glass, trying to clear his mind, when in his peripheral vision he noticed something strange: an eyestalk, similar to that of a Dalek, was growing from the head of the bus driver.

It was at that exact moment that Rose happened to look up and see him. She waved a hand in greeting, only to quickly cover her mouth in horror as she watched Rory's expression change to fear and he disappeared in a bright flash of light.

_"Rory Williams is acquired!"_

* * *

Rose immediately jumped up from the table. "Jack, we have to go… something's wrong, very wrong."

"What happened?" Jack asked, looking behind him at the bus that was driving away.

Rose shook her head, trying to process what she had just witnessed. Something had frightened Rory and then teleported him off of that bus. What could it have been though? And why? She hadn't heard from the Doctor for a while, but maybe he would have some idea of what was going on and what they needed to do to help Rory.

"I don't know, but we need to get to the TARDIS and find the Doctor. Now."

Jack hastily threw some cash on the table and ran after Rose. It wasn't long before she finally began to slow down, approaching the mouth of an alleyway and looked around, confused.

"It was here," she informed him, panic setting in. "The TARDIS - she was parked here. Oh, if he left me stranded again I am going to kill him!"

"After everything that happened? He wouldn't do that…"

"Then where is it, where is the bloody TARDIS?!" Her voice was reaching its shrieking point, which was not good for someone who generally didn't want to draw attention to herself.

Jack grabbed Rose by her shoulders and looked her square in the eyes. "We'll find them. We can go back to Torchwood and check the cameras. See how long ago he may have-"

He was immediately cut-off by the sound of the TARDIS materializing in the alleyway.

* * *

Rory bolted upright into a sitting position, wondering how he ended up lying on the floor. Nevermind that, he was now concerned with where he actually was, given that it obviously wasn't the bus. Although the last few years should have prepared him for this, he was still caught off guard when he looked over his shoulder and saw Amy standing in the room, already on the offensive.

"Where are we?" he groaned. He slowly got to his feet and made his way to the window that she indicated. "Okay, how much trouble are we in?"

As if in answer to this ominous question, a door suddenly opened and a Dalek entered the room. Amy and Rory each felt their jaws drop, but nothing had prepared them for the voice that responded.

"How much trouble, Mr. Pond?" the Doctor asked. "Out of ten? Eleven."

Amy looked at the Doctor and realized that he seemed a bit too calm given their surroundings. It also occurred to her that he was alone, which was strange given that he and Rose had appeared joined at the hip the last few times she heard from him. Then again, the last time they spoke, she and Rory were fine… Her thoughts were interrupted when the floor beneath them started rising, moving the three of them to a large auditorium of some sort. Surrounding them on every side, from floor to ceiling, were more Daleks than she had ever imagined possible. This was not good.

"Where are we?" she hissed. "Spaceship, right?"

"Not just any spaceship. The Parliament of the Daleks. Be brave," the Doctor advised.

"What do we do?"

"And where's Ro-" Rory started, before the Doctor cut him off with a look.

He then looked back over to Amy and took a deep breath. "Make them remember you." Turning to the Daleks, the Doctor prepared himself for the worst and daring them to do it. "Well come on then. You've got me! What are you waiting for? At long last, it's Christmas! Here I am!" He most certainly was not expecting them to respond with a cry for help.

"Save us," the highest Dalek, one outside of its protective shell, stated. The Doctor could only blink in response, he was so shocked. "You will save us."

Fairly sure that he had heard the Dalek incorrectly, he replied. "I'll what?"

"You will save the Daleks."

Suddenly, there was a chorus of Daleks chanting the same. "Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks!"

The Doctor turned to his companions and shrugged. He was at a complete loss. "Well, this is new…"

Yes, it was definitely a very good thing that Rose wasn't with him.


	14. Asylum of the Daleks, Part 2

Rose was panicking. Yes, the TARDIS had returned, but it was empty. The Doctor was nowhere to be found. She couldn't understand how this was even possible, unless he did it again. Maybe he sent the ship back, to her this time rather than with her? No, that didn't make sense...

She maneuvered around the center console, pushing random buttons and flipping levers, but to no avail.

"Why isn't it coming on?"

"Rose, calm down," Jack said, in what he hoped was a soothing voice. "What are you trying to do?"

"There has to be some way to trigger it," she muttered. "Come on! I didn't have to do anything last time..."

"What? Tell me and I'll help!"

"The TARDIS voice interface, emergency protocols, some message from the Doctor!" She was growing increasingly frantic.

Jack, unfortunately, was at a complete loss. He wanted to help Rose, but he wasn't sure how. So he busied himself in front of one of the monitors trying to glean recent coordinates.

"Wait! Do you hear that?" Rose asked. There was the ding of an oven timer followed by the great swell of an orchestra. "What in the world...?"

"That sounds like-"

" _Carmen_? Where is it coming from?"

_"Day three-six-three. The terror continues. Also, made another soufflé, very nearly. Check defences. They came again last night. Still always at night. Maybe they're vampires. Oh, and it's my mum's birthday. Happy birthday, mum. I did make you a soufflé, but it was too beautiful to live."_

Rose and Jack exchanged a confused look before turning back to the monitor.

* * *

Amy and Rory had barely moved as the Doctor took in their precarious surroundings.

"What's he doing?" Rory wondered.

"He's chosen the most defendable area in the room," Amy began. "Counted all the Daleks, counted all the exits, and now he's calculating the exact distance we're standing apart and starting to worry. Oh, and look at him frowning now... Something's wrong with Amy and Rory, and who's going to fix it? And he straightens his bow tie."

Amy's narrative was interrupted by the Dalek announcing that they had arrived.

"Arrived where?" the Doctor asked.

"What do you know of the Dalek Asylum?"

The Doctor chewed on that for a moment, not quite sure how best to proceed. "According to legend, you have a dumping ground. A planet where you lock up all the Daleks that go wrong. The battle-scarred, the insane, the ones even you can't control. It's never made any sense to me."

"Why not?"

"Because you'd just kill them."

"It is offensive to us to extinguish such divine hatred."

"Offensive?"

"Does it surprise you to know the Daleks have a concept of beauty?"

The Doctor couldn't hide the look of disgust that appeared on his face. "I thought you'd run out of ways to make me sick. Hello again. You think hatred is beautiful."

"Perhaps that is why we have never been able to kill you," the Dalek proclaimed.

The Doctor really didn't like the thought of that. Did an entire race really think that he was fueled by hatred? He knew that he had a dark side, but really he considered himself to be a righter-of-wrongs, or an healer as it were. He didn't want to think about the millions of insane or incurable Daleks that were waiting on the planet below. Why should he help his sworn enemy? And what was that noise?

As if in answer to his unspoken question, he heard someone say "This signal is being received from the very heart of the Asylum."

Suddenly the room was transformed with the beauty of Georges Bizet's "Habanera" from his masterpiece  _Carmen_  and the Doctor was momentarily transported to the premiere of the opera that he had attended via the orchestra pit back in 1875.

"Doctor," Amy hissed, pulling him back to the present where the Daleks began yelling again.

"What is the noise? Explain. Explain."

"Er, it's me." Rory shot him a confused look, which he ignored. "It's me, playing the triangle. Okay, I got buried in the mix. Carmen. Lovely show. Someone's transmitting this. Have you considered tracking back the signal and talking to them?" He rolled his eyes at their lack of response and decided to try it his way. "Hello? Hello? Carmen?"

 _"Hello?"_  a female voice responded.

"Come in. Come in, Carmen."

 _"Hello! Yes, yes, sorry. Do you read me?"_  The relief that she felt at being heard was almost palpable.

* * *

"There's a signal," Jack said. "Now if I could just get a better lock on it..."

Rose ran over to Jack, but quickly grew frustrated as she had no idea how to help. The Doctor was gone, Rory was essentially kidnapped, and she couldn't get ahold of Amy. She didn't think that the Doctor would have taken them somewhere without her, but with the way he had been acting since the incident… No. If he had, then the TARDIS would not have returned to her.

"Here we go!" Jack said, as the Doctor's voice suddenly surrounded them.

_"Yes, reading you loud and clear. Identify yourself and report your status."_

"Who is that?"

"The Doctor... New regeneration. Now can you find the source of the signal or not?"

_"Oswin Oswald, junior entertainment officer, starship Alaska. Current status, crashed and shipwrecked somewhere not nice. Been here a year, rest of the crew missing. Provisions good but keen to move on."_

While Rose tried to place the mysterious Oswin girl, Jack sprang into action. A crashed starship was something he should be able to trace, even if he had to enlist help from his Torchwood team.

_"A year? Are you okay? Are you under attack?"_

_"Some local lifeforms," Oswin replied._

_"Do you know what those lifeforms are?"_

_"I know a Dalek when I hear one, yeah."_

Rose snapped to attention. How was that possible? "Jack," she whispered. "Did she just say-"

_"What have you been doing on your own against the Daleks for a year?"_

_"Making soufflés?"_

_"Soufflés? Against the Daleks? Where'd you get the milk?"_

"Or the eggs..." Rose added.

"It's gone," Jack told her. "We lost the signal!"

Tears welled in Rose's eyes as she thought of the Doctor all alone, facing their greatest enemy without her.

* * *

The Doctor considered the information he had just gleaned from this Oswin girl. One the one hand, she sounded fine considering her precarious situation. On the other hand, how was she making those soufflés? But then on the other hand, he needed to get her out of there - she was surrounded by insane Daleks. Then again, on the other - no, that was too many hands. "If someone can get in, then those Daleks can get out. Even you don't want that. And yet you haven't just blasted them out of the sky."

"The Asylum forcefield is impenetrable and can only be turned off from within the Asylum."

A small smile of disbelief appeared across the Doctor's face. Was it possible that the Daleks were actually afraid of something? He shook his head, realizing that this was exactly the case. "Not one of you will go, so tell me, what do the Daleks do when they're too scared?"

"The Predator of the Daleks will be deployed."

"You don't have a Predator, and even if you did, why would they turn off a forcefield for you?"

"There is one Predator remaining."

Amy coughed and gave the Doctor a look.

"Me?" he asked, turning to the room at large. "Me?" Furthermore, what did they mean…  _Oh_. The Doctor pondered this realization, not noticing as a wristband was placed on his wrist. He looked down in surprise when someone spoke.

"This will protect you from the nanocloud."

"The what? The nano what?"

"The gravity beam will convey you close to the source of the transmission."

The Doctor blinked. "You're going to fire me at a planet?" This was quite possibly the stupidest thing he had ever heard, and that was saying something. "That's your plan? I get fired at a planet and expected to fix it."

Rory seemed to give the statement some credence. "In fairness, that is slightly your M.O."

"Don't be fair to the Daleks when they're firing me at a planet."

Of course that brought the Ponds back to the forefront of the Doctor's mind. "What do you want with them?"

"It is known the Doctor required companions."

Rory rolled his eyes. "Oh, brilliant. Good oh."

"Don't worry. We'll get through this, I promise. Don't be scared." Rose, I'm so sorry, the Doctor added silently.

Amy had been silent for most of the exchange. She had been craving adventure though, so why not just go with it? "Scared? Who's scared. Geronimo." Besides, there was no time to reconsider or try to reason their way out of the situation. She found herself pushed into a gravity beam with both the Doctor and her (now ex) husband. All heading toward the Dalek planet, and all suddenly heading in three different directions.

* * *

"No, get the signal back! There has to be something you can do," Rose pleaded. She couldn't accept that the Doctor was taken - yet again! - by the Daleks. She had saved him before, and she was determined to do it again.

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair, growing more frustrated. "Maybe back at the Hub, but the TARDIS won't respond to me."

Rose vaguely remembered John mentioning something to that effect as well. Ever since she had saved Jack, the ship seemed to want to avoid him as much as possible. But she knew that wasn't always the case... The TARDIS had allowed him to come on board and to boost the original signal. Maybe the ship knew something though.

"Okay, yeah. You go, see what you can do."

"But what about you?"

She shook her head. "What if he comes back or something else happens?"

"Rose, what if the Daleks come for you?"

"They can't have done. They don't know I'm here." And then from out of the blue Rose was struck with an idea of what to do. She had no idea why, but she felt compelled to carry out this new plan. "Jack, have you got a car?"

* * *

Amy landed with a thud on the wet snow under a brilliant blue sky. She rubbed her neck as she rose, taking in her surroundings. She grew increasingly concerned as all she saw was the blindingly white snow; there was no sign of the Doctor or Rory, nor any response when she called for them.

A moment later though, she heard footsteps. Her hopes high, she was once again deflated as a stranger came running up to her. ""Who are you? Are you okay?" the strange man asked. "I'm Harvey." Not even thinking about it, Amy ran from him. "Where are you going?" he shouted after her.

The Doctor could hear Amy shouting in the distance, and sat up. As he looked around the landscape, he noticed a series of eyepieces popping up and down from under the snow, as if examining him. He started laughing as he heard  _Carmen_  once again.

_"Sorry! Sorry, pressed the wrong switch."_

"Soufflé girl?"

_"You can always call me Oswin, seeing as that's my name. You okay?"_

"How are you doing that, eh? This is Dalek technology."

_"It's very easy to hack."_

"No, it isn't. Where are you?"

_"The ship broke up when it hit. Somewhere underground, I think. You coming to get me?"_

"Doctor!" Amy called again, relieved to finally find him.

"Hey!" he responded, before turning back to the eyepiece. "Oi! Soufflé girl! Come back!" He shook his head and focused on Amy. "Amy! Hey, where's Rory?"

Harvey came running up behind Amy, grateful to find another new arrival and hoping that this meant he would get to go home soon. "There was another beam. There. Over there," he told them, leading the way to a deep shaft that had been drilled through layers of snow and rock. "We came down two days ago. There's twelve of our escape pods. I don't know what happened to them."

"Alaska?" Amy asked. "That's the same ship as soufflé girl."

"Yeah. Except she's been here a year," the Doctor whispered.

Harvey led the two into the escape pod with the intention of getting them rope so they could reach Rory. What no-one had anticipated though was that the crew he had expected to find had long since been dead. There was certainly something about this planet that messed with Harvey's mind. Now the Doctor just had to figure out what was going on.

"They're dead. All of them," the Doctor said.

"That's not possible. I just spoke to them. Two hours ago. We were doing engine repairs."

"You're sure about that, are you? Because I'd say they've all been dead for a very long time."

"They didn't get in this state in two hours," Amy added.

"No, of course. Stupid me. I died outside, and the cold preserved my body. I forgot about dying," Harvey breathed, before a Dalek eyepiece appeared in his forehead.

"Amy, the door!"

Working together, they managed to lock Harvey away. For the moment at least.

"Explain, Amy commanded. "That's what you're good at. How'd he get all Daleked?"

"Because he wasn't wearing one of these. Oh, ho, ho. That's clever." The Doctor shook his head in reluctant admiration. "The nanocloud. Microorganisms that automatically process any organic matter, living or dead, into a Dalek puppet. Anything attacks this place, it automatically becomes part of the on-site security. These wristbands protect us. The only thing stopping us going exactly the way he did-"

"Doctor, shut up! Living or dead?"

"Yes, exactly. Living or, or... Dead. Oh dear."

The Doctor and Amy searched frantically for a quick escape - the dead crew had come to "life," revitalized by the nanocloud. They scrambled through a nearby door entering the escape pod's cockpit, and the Doctor sealed the door.

"Is it bad that I've really missed this?" Amy grinned.

"Yes."

"Good."

"I know."

_"Unauthorized personnel may not enter the cockpit."_

"Shut up," the Doctor muttered.

_"Oh, Mister Grumpy. Bad combo. No sense of humor in that chin."_

"Is that her again, soufflé girl?"

"Yeah, she. Oi, what is wrong with my chin?"

_"Careful, dear. You'll put someone's eye out. Scanning you. You're in another of the escape pods from the Alaska, right? Same ship I was on."_

"How can you hack into everything? It should be impossible. You're in a crashed ship!"

_"Long story. Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?"_

"Doctor. You call me the Doctor." Amy hit his shoulder.

_"See what you did there. the floor. I'm picking up a breach at floor level. There could be a way out. See you later."_

Both Amy and the Doctor struggled to get the floor hatch open, but it appeared to be blocked off by whoever had used it before. "The lower part of the pod is buried, so this must go straight down to the Asylum," he said.

"Where Rory is."

"Speaking of Rory, is there anything you want to tell me?"

"Are we going to do this now?"

"What happened?"

"Oh, stuff. You know. We split up. What can you do?"

"What can I do?" He wanted nothing more than to help his friends find their way back to each other.

"Nothing. It's not one of those things you can fix like you fix your bowtie. Don't give me those big wet eyes, Raggedy Man. It's life. Just life. That thing that goes on when you're not there."

That was something the Doctor knew all too well and yet refused to accept. It was why he hated goodbyes. Life would continue on for his companions, his friends, but not always turn out the way he had hoped. He had to hold out hope though - after all, look at Rose. He had gotten her back, against all of the odds in (and out of) the universe. Now if only he could find his way back to her...

Amy was about to head down through the hatch when the crew made another appearance, this time through the bulkhead camera. "What've they got?" she wondered.

The Doctor raised his head and moved in for a closer look. "One of these. The wristband. But where did they get it?"

"Doctor, they got it from me."

"Oh, Amy."

"Doctor, what's going to happen to me? Seriously. Tell me what."

This was most definitely, without a doubt, very not good. And the Doctor was left with a fleeting thought, the ghost of a memory, the first time he kissed Rose.


	15. Asylum of the Daleks, Part 3

When Rory came to, he found himself in what appeared to be a long-forgotten storage room. Or prison. He pulled out a small penlight, and tried to take in his surroundings. He felt a stab of fear as he realized that he was surrounded by Daleks, although none moved at his touch. He knew that he had to find Amy and the Doctor, but how?

As he tried to make his way through the valley of the Daleks, he tripped over something. He instantly froze, eyeing them suspiciously, when an eyepiece started to glow. Rory groaned instantly as a cry issued from the Dalek, soon joined by the others. It was simply one word: "Exterminate!"

_"Run! The door at the end, run for it. They're waking up, but they're slow. The door at the end. Just run. Now! Now! Now!"_  The Daleks shot at Rory as he ran to the door, which instantly closed behind him. _"So, anyway, I'm Oswin. What do I call you?"_

"Er, I can't remember. No, Rory."

_"Lovely name, Rory. First boy I ever fancied was called Rory."_ She paused. _"Actually, she was called Nina. I was going through a phase. Just flirting to keep you cheerful."_

"Er, okay, any time you want to start flirting again is fine by me..." But he was only met by silence.

_"Hey there, beakie boy,"_  Oswin broke in, surprising him.

"If it's a straight choice, I prefer Nina."

_"Loving this. The nose and the chin. You two could fence. There's a door behind you. In there, quickly. Okay, you're safe for now."_

* * *

"You wanna tell me where we're heading?" Jack shouted, gripping the dashboard as Rose raced through London. If he thought that the Doctor's piloting of the TARDIS was rough...

Rose ignored him as she took a sharp turn into a roundabout. She used a very heavy hand on the horn as she wove in and out of traffic, determined to get to where she needed to be as soon as possible.

Jack heaved a sigh of relief as Rose pulled into a parking space and turned to him. "Do you trust me?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't be here."

"Okay. Back in two ticks!" Rose bolted from the car and into the Tesco on the corner.

Not one to sit still for long, Jack got out of the car and started pacing. He made a quick call to Gwen, asking if she had managed to find anything on the Alaska. Unfortunately, nothing had come up, at least not yet. However, she agreed to send him what she did find on the names Amelia Pond and Rory Williams. Rose was obviously very taken with them, but knowing everything she had been through, he just wanted to be sure. By the time he hung up, Rose had returned, motioning him back into the car.

"Promise you won't think I'm crazy?" Jack nodded, and Rose took a deep breath. "It's like, like I can hear him. Right now. Inside my head, yeah?"

"What do you mean, 'hear him?' A telepathic connection?"

"It's gotta be something like that. I told you that he got married, but he didn't tell me. I just heard it when we…" she trailed off, quickly wiping a rogue tear from her eye. "Anyway, ever since we almost... since that night I kinda feel him in my head. And, Jack, he's scared. But there's someone there, someone helping him. Someone that shouldn't exist, but does."

"Kind of like us, huh?" he smirked.

"Exactly. That Oswin girl. Carmen. But there's something else, I just needed to find the missing piece." Rose had begun driving them back to the TARDIS. "She told him that she'd been there a year, but how did she survive when nobody else did? When even Amy is changing, and she's only been there hours at most?" Rose couldn't stop the tears this time, and Jack was at a loss.

* * *

The Doctor and Amy just entered another corridor as Oswin yelled out.

_"Oi! Chin. I have visual on you."_

"Why don't I have a visual on you?" the Doctor wondered. "Why can't I ever see you?"

_"Limited power, bad hair, take your pick. There's a door to your left. Open it. I'm going to send you a map to that screen. I put your little friend somewhere safe. I can get you to him."_

"Rory. You found Rory?" He was relieved to hear it, and very concerned that Amy didn't react. The change was happening faster than he had hoped - there had to be something he could do to stop it before it was too late.

_"I call him Nina. Personal thing. Hush now."_

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he pulled Amy down a different corridor. Yes, they encountered some difficulties, but it was nothing the Doctor couldn't handle. He knew he could face anything if it meant saving the people he cared for most in the universe. And what was a little explosion in the grand scheme of things?

Of course that little explosion was felt by Rory as well. "Oswin?" Rory called. "What happened? Who killed all the Daleks?"

A door suddenly opened behind him and he hurried over when he saw the Doctor enter with Amy in his arms.

"Who do you think?"

Rory knelt beside Amy, now lying on the floor. "Amy, it's me. Do you remember me?" Amy responded by slapping him across the face. "She remembers me."

_"Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek? Subtract love, add anger. Doesn't she seem a bit too angry to you?"_

"Well, somebody's never been to Scotland…" Amy muttered.

The Doctor still felt as though he was missing something. "What about you, though, Oswin. Why hasn't the nanocloud converted you?"

_"I mentioned the genius thing, yeah? Shielded in here."_

"Clever of you. Now, this place. The Daleks said it was fully automated. Look at it. It's a wreck."

_"Well, I've had nearly a year to mess with them, and not a lot else to do. But I've been looking you up. You're all over the database. Why do the Daleks call you the Predator?"_

"I'm not the Predator, I'm just a man with a plan."

_"You've got a plan?"_

"In no particular order, we need to neutralise all the Daleks in this Asylum, rescue Oswin from the wreckage, escape from this planet and fix Amy and Rory's marriage."

"Okay, I'm counting three lost causes," Amy said. "Anyone else?"

"Oswin, there's a Dalek ship in orbit, but the Asylum has a forcefield. The Daleks upstairs are waiting for me to turn it off. Soon as I do, they'll burn this whole world and us with it. So, Oswin, my question is this. How fast can you drop the forcefield?"

_"Pretty fast. But why would I?"_

"Because this is a teleport. Am I right, Oswin?"

* * *

"A teleport! Jack, they've found a teleport!"

Jack was taken aback by her sudden outburst. However, it seemed to be just the thing to jolt the TARDIS awake. One of the monitors started flashing, on it what appeared to be coordinates.

"What's that?" Rose asked, pointing. "What's she doing?"

Jack ran over and started typing frantically, still unable to make heads or tails of this new information. "They're coordinates, but I'm not sure what they lead to…"

"It's got to be where the Doctor is, yeah? Why else would she bring them up now - we must have a chance! If they can get the shields down, then we can-"

"What shields?"

"The Daleks. Wherever they sent the Doctor with the Ponds, it's shielded. But she can lower them, Oswin."

"And you know this for sure?"

"I told you. I can hear it, him. His thoughts, as he's processing things…"

"But he can't hear you?"

"Don't think so, I would have noticed if it occurred to him."

Jack chewed that over. If the Doctor wasn't used to people being inside his head, it would explain the connection now - he probably wasn't in the habit of blocking people out. And he always seemed to have that kind of connection with this "Ship!" Jack finished his thought out loud. He grabbed Rose and kissed her, grinning from ear to ear.

"What?" She almost laughed at his animated actions.

"You can tell us what he's thinking, what's going on. The TARDIS can get a firm lock on him. So concentrate. What's happening?" Jack looked her in the eyes, his hands still on her forearms.

She took a deep breath and nodded, trying to reach out to the Doctor with every fibre of her being. "He's going to boost the power of the teleport, use it to get them all out once Oswin takes the shields down." Rose took a step back from Jack, falling into the seat that was thankfully behind her, a look of horror upon her face.

* * *

The Doctor turned to Rory and Amy, a determined glint in his eye. "As soon as the forcefield is down the Daleks will attack. If it gets too explody-wody in here, you go without me, okay?"

"And leave you to die?"

"Oh, don't worry about me. You're the one beaming up to a Dalek ship to get exterminated."

"Fair point. Love this plan. What about Amy?"

"Keep her remembering, keep her focused. That'll hold back the conversion. You both heard Oswin. They're subtracting love. Don't let them." And with that, he carefully left them alone in the room as he went in search of the illusive Oswin Oswald.

He carefully made his way along the route that Oswin had mapped out for him. So far the journey had been quiet, but he had a feeling that the bad was about to come.

"Oswin, I think I'm close."

_"You are. Less than twenty feet away. Which is the good news."_

"Okay. And the bad which I suddenly feel is coming?"

_"You're about to pass through Intensive Care."_

"What's so special about this lot, then?"

_"Survivors of particular wars. Spiridon, Kembel, Eridius, Vulcan, Exxilon. Ringing any bells?"_

The Doctor moved carefully passed the caged Daleks. "All of them," he replied, quietly. "These are the Daleks who survived me."

* * *

Rose could see it all in her mind's eye, almost as if she were watching a movie. Those Daleks, the ones locked in intensive care were starting to wake up.

"It's him," she breathed. "They remember him from all of those battles, and are planning attack."

_"That's weird," Oswin said. "Those ones don't usually wake up for anything."_

_"Yeah, well, special visitor. Okay, door, but it won't open. I can't be far away, though."_

Jack knelt down in front of Rose, watching as tears streaked down her face. "Jack, if she doesn't do it soon, there won't be a Doctor to save!"

"Rose, just concentrate. What. Can. We. Do."

She looked at this face, full of concern for her. And then she heard it, this time something new. It wasn't the Doctor, but instead a different sound. Something equally calming and exhilarating. She had set things in motion earlier, and now together they could bring this chapter to a close.

Jumping up, she made her way to the center console, flipping switches and turning dials until it finally started moving. Jack clapped and nodded his approval, taking hold of one of the steering columns.

"Come on, beautiful. I know you can find him," Rose said quietly. "Let's find him together. Again."

* * *

Rory looked at Amy, forcing her to make eye contact. "Okay, look at me. I'm going to be logical. Cold and logical, okay? For both of our sakes, for both of us, I'm going to take this off my wrist and put it on yours." He prepared himself for a fight, and was not disappointed. Of course she'd insist that he was being stupid. It was time to pull out the big guns.

"Two thousand years, waiting for you outside a box. Don't say it isn't true, you know it's true. Give me your arm. Amy!"

Amy reached toward him, but not for the purpose that he had intended. Instead, she slapped him again. "Don't you dare say that to me. Don't you ever dare."

"Amy, you kicked me out."

"You want kids!" she yelled. "You have always wanted kids. Ever since you were a kid. And I can't have them. Whatever they did to me at Demons Run, I can't ever give you children. I didn't kick you out. I gave you up."

"Amy, I don't-"

"Don't you dare talk to me about waiting outside a box, because that is nothing, Rory, nothing, compared to giving you up."

"Just give me your arm. Let me put this on you. Just give me your arm!"

"Don't touch me!"

Rory managed to grab her wrist despite her best effort. As he pulled up her sleeve, he saw it. "It's the Doctor's. He must've… When you were sleeping."

"That Time Lord. What's the betting he doesn't even..." Amy trailed off, suddenly distracted by the sound of the TARDIS materializing.

Inside, Rose bit her lip in anticipation as the ship landed and practically flew to the door once she was able.

"Rory!" she yelled, relief washing over her as she pulled him into a hug. "You're okay, you're both okay!"

"Rose?" he responded, startled. "But how-"

"Where's this new Doctor? Still pretty?" Jack asked, following Rose into the teleport room. "Well, hello." He grinned charmingly at both Rory and Amy, as only he could. "Captain Jack Harkness."

"Jack, not now..."

"But that's the TARDIS," Amy practically shrieked. "How did you get the TARDIS-"

"Long story. You and Rory get inside, I need to find the Doctor."

"Rose, there are Daleks everywhere."

Jack smirked. "Oh, she can handle her own against a fleet of Daleks." He turned to Rose. "You go, I've got them."

Rose nodded her thanks and took off down the corridor that she remembered seeing earlier. As she made her way toward the Doctor, silently praying that she was right, she could feel the presence of the Bad Wolf growing inside of her. The faint howl she heard earlier had been the catalyst, leading her once again to his side.

She rounded a corner and saw him there, at the end of the hall struggling with a door.

"Oswin, get this door open!" The Daleks were rounding on him, screaming their battle cry and ready to attack. "Oswin, open this door!"

Rose took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing everything she had on the part of herself that she knew would instinctively take over.

_"That's strange,"_  Oswin said. _"I'm picking up something out there."_

"Yes, insane Daleks. We know!"

_"Not that, chin boy. Something else…"_

"Just open the door!"

At that moment, Rose's eyes opened, golden light once again emanating from them, sending three words out to Oswin Oswald:  _Make them forget._

_"Oh, that is cool. Tell me I'm cool, chin boy."_

"What, what did you do?"

_"The Daleks, they have a hive mind. Well, they don't, they have a sort of telepathic web. I hacked into it, did a mass delete on all the information connected with the Doctor."_

"You made them forget me?"

_"What can I say? When inspiration strikes... And here comes the door."_

"Oswin, we have a problem."

Rose remained hidden in the shadows. She would be there to console him, when he was ready, but right she knew that he needed to face this on his own. One day she would be able to tell him the full story - how she, how the Bad Wolf, had saved the mind of this poor, impossible girl. Trapped on an impossible planet and converted to a life form that existed on hatred. She needed Oswin to keep her humanity, to save the Doctor not only from the Daleks, but from himself.

"Oswin, I am so sorry, but you are a Dalek. The milk, Oswin. The milk and the eggs for the soufflés. Where, where did it all come from?

_"Eggs. I'm human. I am not a Dalek, I am human. I am not Dalek, I am human!"_

"Doctor," Rose whispered from the doorway, holding a hand out toward him.

His back stiffened at the sound of her voice, and he turned, almost doubting his own eyes that she was actually there. Rescuing him from the Daleks, again. He blinked, and shook his head, momentarily distracted. "Rose? No… Oswin!"

_"Why do they hate you so much? They hate you so much. Why?"_

"Doctor, please," Rose begged, stepping closer.

"I fought them… we fought them. Many, many times," he answered, reaching back and squeezing the hand that Rose slid into his.

_"We have grown stronger in fear of you."_

"I know. I tried to stop."

_"Then run. Run with the Bad Wolf."_

"What did you say?"

_"I've taken down the forcefield."_

"Doctor, we have to go. Now. They've started their attack!"

"Oswin, are you-"

_"I am Oswin Oswald. I fought the Daleks and I am human! Remember me."_

Rose nodded as the Doctor pulled her around, heading back the way that they came.

_"Run! Run, you clever boy. And remember."_

And so the they ran, not stopping until they reached the TARDIS, just as they always had and always would: hand-in-hand.


	16. By Any Other Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to give credit where credit is due, so many, many thanks to my Person who allowed me to re-work a scene that she wrote for an unrelated (but brilliant) saga. The scene just spoke to me on a few levels, and I think that in the end it fit in rather nicely.

The moment that they crossed the threshold and the TARDIS door closed behind them, the Doctor seemed to realize that he was violating the 'don't touch Rose' policy that he had established after they had nearly...  _No_. He couldn't think about that right now. They had to leave. Now. Explosions. Bad. He let go of Rose's hand and bolted to the console, ignoring everyone else in his rush to get them to safety.

"Who the hell is this kid?" Jack smirked, gesturing toward the Doctor.

"Oi! Watch it, Harkness," the Doctor replied without thinking. He snapped up, suddenly much more alert. "Jack? What- how- no, why are you here?"

Amy and Rory looked at each other, confused. From what Jack had told them, he had also traveled with the Doctor and Rose. "Doctor?" Amy quietly asked.

"Nice to see that some things never change... Although any younger and I'm bound to be arrested," he finished with a wink.

"Really? Why is it always with the flirting?"

Rory rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, "You're one to talk..." just as Rose yelled "Boys!"

The Doctor, Jack, Rory, and Amy all looked at her. "Daleks, explosion,  _surviving_? Sound familiar? Let's get to it, yeah?"

"Right! Yes, of course. One quick stop, and then everyone heads home," the Doctor rambled before turning to Amy and Rory, a grin on his face. "Ponds repaired, I see."

"Shut up, Raggedy Man. Take us home."

"Feisty, I like it."

"Jack!"

Before anyone could say anything else or start another argument, the TARDIS landed. "Please, just stay back," the Doctor requested as he walked to the door. Rory held Amy's arm to keep her back, knowing that she would follow regardless. Rose, however, walked right behind him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Together."

The Doctor, noting that it wasn't a question, nodded, resigned. Keeping his distance from her was going to be much harder than he had hoped. Choosing to deal with that later, the Doctor took Rose's hand in his and opened the door where they were greeted by the entire Dalek Parliament.

"We are under attack! Prepare to defend. Defend, defend!" the Daleks shouted in unison.

"You know, you guys should really have seen this coming. The thing about me and teleports, I've got a really good aim. Pin-point accurate, in fact. Or, to put it another way… Suckers!"

"Identify yourself. Identify. Identify!"

The Doctor looked confused. "It's me. You know me. The Doctor. The Oncoming Storm. The Predator."

"Titles are not meaningful in this context. Doctor who?"

"Doctor who?" the Daleks echoed.

Rose grinned. "She did it, I knew she could…"

"Oh, Oswin," the Doctor agreed. "You did it to them all. You beauty." He and Rose headed back into to the TARDIS, but being who he is, he had to turn back for one final word: "Fellas, you're never going to stop asking."

The Doctor smiled to himself and he closed the TARDIS door behind them starting the dematerialization process and therefore missing the final words from the Dalek Supreme:

_Bad Wolf._

* * *

Rory couldn't be happier. Yes, they had almost died. Again. But that wasn't exactly new for him. The point was that he had Amy back, and he knew without a doubt that she still loved him. Even though she did just slap him on the chest, hopefully harder than she had intended.

"Stop grinning like an idiot," she said, even though she was doing the same.  _Yeah, probably not_ , Rory thought. Instead, he hugged her closer as the Doctor supposedly piloted them home.

"So, what's the story?" Jack chimed in. "Daleks back and gone again, but apparently no memory of you. What gives?"

"Simple. Oswin deleted me from the database, I no longer exist," the Doctor replied, silencing Amy's impending question with a quick glance before turning back to Jack. "Now you tell me, why are you here?"

"He's here because of me," Rose interjected, stepping between the two. "After everything else, I don't exactly have many people left on this side of things that I can go to, now do I?"

The Doctor's face fell. Of course she didn't. Her family was gone, and although she had returned when he crashed the Pandorica, officially Rose Tyler was still listed as dead from Canary Wharf. He felt that he would always be apologizing to her for this, and rightfully so. "Rose, I-"

"It's fine. I know. I'll just be in my room." Jack glared at the Doctor as Rose excused herself from the group and made her way through the corridors, fully intending to go to her room but instead finding herself in the library. She wandered through the familiar aisles, knowing that she shouldn't keep using the same excuse with him. It wasn't fair. She'd go back out and apologize soon, but for now she curled up on a chaise in her favorite corner with an old book she found nearby and somehow managed to doze off before finishing the first paragraph.

"Is she alright?" Rory wondered aloud once Rose left the console room. After his conversation with her at Christmas, he knew how much she missed her family, and could understand why she might blame the Doctor for all that had happened. He looked to the Doctor, expecting him to respond and was surprised to hear Jack's voice instead.

"The Daleks weren't exactly supposed to be back on her radar, so what do you think?"

"Hey!" Amy yelled, instantly coming to the Doctor's defense. "It's not his fault that the Daleks-"

"He's right," the Doctor said. "She should never have had to see them again, and yet they always come back."

"Why? What makes her so special?"

"You know  _nothing_ , Red."

"Jack, please. Amy, just leave it. There are things that happened, things that Rose did. Things that I did!" The Doctor took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had always been protective of Rose, ever since that first night. However, that was no reason to yell at Amy. "Listen, I'm sorry. I'll explain, I promise. Just not today. Let me take you and Rory home."

* * *

Rose shook her head as she woke, surprised to find herself in River's cell.

"Well, good morning, sleepyhead," River grinned. "I was wondering when you'd come around."

"How'd I get here?"

"Not sure. I arrived back and found you asleep on the bed. Don't get me wrong, I am flattered, but you're really not my type."

"Oh, ha ha. Help me up, will you?" River smirked as she helped Rose up into a sitting position. She clutched her head, which felt as though a truck had run through it. "Thanks," she said, accepting the glass of water River offered.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you appear so  _human_ ," River mused. "To what do I owe the pleasure this time?"

Rose thought about that and couldn't come up with a reason. Their last encounters had been initiated by her, at least somewhat consciously. This time though she had nothing. Seeing the Daleks again had drained her, and all she wanted to do was escape it for a few minutes. Escaping into a prison though? That was not the plan. "No idea…"

River sat down in the chair across from Rose, sizing her up. It was entirely possible that she hadn't meant to come, but something was to be accomplished by this visit. Perhaps this time it was her turn to do the talking. "Did you know that I've been researching the Doctor?" she began. "For years, I've been studying, researching in the libraries of the past and future, learning all that I can about that man. In the beginning, I didn't fully understand why. I just knew that it was something I had to do. My parents have occasionally popped up, but generally only as the odd footnote here and there. You, though-"

"Me? What do you mean me?" Rose couldn't imagine what she would be doing in any library books.

"Yes, you, Rose Tyler."

"How did you-"

"I'm nothing if not thorough. It took a while to find you, but the connection to Bad Wolf was there, two words scattered through time and space, always appearing in connection to the Doctor and his companion, Rose Tyler." Although she was rather proud of herself for putting the pieces together, it also broke her heart because she understood what it meant: someone else had a claim to the Doctor, someone who shouldn't exist anymore and yet was right in front of her.

Rose sighed. If she was honest, she was very impressed with River. "He did say that you were an archaeology professor when you met."

River understood the double-meaning of the girl's words. "So there's still time then?"

"Yes, some."

"Well, in the interest of not wasting any of it," River smirked, "How about I just cut to the chase?"

"Let's have it then."

"I do believe, Rose Tyler, that you and I are in love with the same man."

* * *

It took some convincing, but the Doctor finally managed to get Jack to leave. He knew that Jack cared for Rose and only wanted to make certain that she was okay. He wanted the same. He had hoped that she might have come back to say goodbye to the Ponds, but there was no word.

He slowly walked the familiar path to Rose's room, knocking softly when he reached her door. "Rose? Rose, are you alright," he called quietly. He knocked again, this time the door creaked open. "Rose?" he asked again, cautiously peering in to find the room was empty. He sat on the bed and took his head in his hands. Where had she gotten to now?

* * *

Rose was caught off guard by River's assertion. Yes, she loved the Doctor, and yes she always would. But this man wasn't  _her_  Doctor, was he? "I don't know what you mean," she breathed.

"Sweetie, please. I may not be a professor yet, but I've never been an idiot so don't treat me like one." Surprising even herself, River moved to sit beside Rose, even going so far as to take the girl's hand in her own. "You and I, we have both sacrificed so much for that man..."

"You know everything that happened, yeah?" Rose waited for River to nod. "Then you know what he's done, the choices he's made that he had no right to make."

"Of course he didn't. If he only made those choices then he wouldn't be the Doctor." Rose smiled at that, knowing it was true. "But he also gave you a very generous and selfless gift. Not just in leaving you with the other Doctor, but your family as well."

"Why are you defending him to me?"

"Because I know my time is short. As you so kindly pointed out before, I will never have the future with him that I'd like, but that doesn't mean that I don't want him to be happy in his future. He very nearly died when he lost you before, and my future is his past. All I will see is that pain increasing."

"With that though, his future is your past. Why would you risk changing that?"

"That's easy. Because I love him. And when all is said and done, you and I, we are the ones that have to forgive him."

"I don't know that I can..."

River smiled sadly at Rose. "I don't know that you really have a choice in the matter."

"How?"

"Sorry, love. Spoilers."

* * *

Rose woke up, once again on the chaise in the library. Her cheeks were wet with freshly shed tears, no doubt a byproduct of her heart-to-heart with River. While she was starting to grow quite fond of the woman, their conversation had reopened several wounds that she felt had been finally starting to scar over, if not outright heal.

As she made her way to her room, she found herself longing for John, craving the sense of safety that she felt when he held her. Instead, she choked back a sob and nearly broke down as she remembered why that would never happen again. She knew that she couldn't let the others see her like this, especially not the Doctor, so she quickly ran to her room and slammed the door behind her before sinking to the floor.

The Doctor jumped up, surprised by her sudden entrance. He had just decided to go look for her, and then there she was. "Rose," he said simply, relief in his voice.

She scrambled back up to her feet, horrorstruck. She thought that she would be alone, but of course he would be there. That was typical.

It pained him to see her react to his presence like that. "I'll get out of your way," he mumbled, reaching for the doorknob.

"Please don't go," she choked out, leaning against the wall in an effort to remain standing. With a loud sob, she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, holding him so tightly that he could barely breathe.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry," he said over and over, running his hand in what he hoped was a soothing motion on her back.

It was the only solace he could offer her, and he hated how inadequate it all seemed. Part of him knew that he should walk away, leave her alone, but she was so shattered that he couldn't focus on anything else.

"Please," she begged, sounding more like a small child than the strong, independent woman he knew Rose to be.

He couldn't help it. As guilty as he felt, as wrong as he knew it was, he comforted her with far more devotion and tenderness as was appropriate for their current relationship.

However, no matter how he justified himself, he believed that any line Rose crossed right now was purely physical. Yes, there was emotion involved. He wasn't foolish enough to try to deceive himself there. But this went completely against the carefully constructed façade Rose Tyler had worked to maintain since she had returned. Any emotional boundary between them was now gone.

Her head lifted, and with tears streaming down her face, she looked at him with such ferocity that he started. With a trembling hand, she pulled her lips to his for a kiss borne of sorrowful anguish, not romance. Both hands wrapped around his head as she desperately kissed him out of grief, confusion, desire to feel alive, and other emotions that she couldn't reduce to words.

"Please don't leave me," she begged him in between kisses, looking him directly in the eyes. He wanted to pretend that he didn't know where this was headed. He wanted to pretend that after a few minutes, she would regain her senses.

 _But what if she doesn't?_  he thought, as he felt her hand brush against him in a way that completely made her intentions clear.

His mind screamed at him to walk away although another presence there told him it would be impossible.  _Stupid TARDIS,_  he thought.  _Never on my side._  What shreds of self-preservation he had left would be destroyed if he slept with her simply to alleviate her grief. She wanted to forget her heartache, and he was here and willing. He tried to remind himself that no matter his feelings this wasn't going to become something. The morning would come, and after some awkwardness, that would be that.

"I," she said, kissing his neck, "Need," his jaw, "You," his earlobe. And then she whispered something into his ear, something that he never would have expected.

With that, his resolve was gone. Even if it was wrong, he didn't care. He could no longer feel any guilt about the actions they were about to take. He knew not only that she needed him, but also that he needed her. Forever.

She proved that when she whispered his name.


	17. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, Part 1

The Doctor could barely conceal his grin as he quietly made his way back into Rose's bedroom, a breakfast tray in his hands. He smiled outright when he saw her there, sound asleep in her bed with her blonde hair mussed up in every direction like a halo that had gone wrong. Trying his best not to wake her, he set the tray down on the bureau and crept back under the covers so he could once again be beside her, elated when she responded (albeit with a soft groan) by turning over and curling back up against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her closer, sighing in contentment.

He could tell the moment that she had started to wake, smirking into her hair as he felt her eyelashes flutter against his skin. "Good morning," he murmured.

"Morning," Rose yawned, rolling onto her back and stretching her arms above her. Suddenly she sat bolt upright and her eyes flew open as memories of the night before came flooding to the forefront of her mind. She experienced a split second of mortifying embarrassment, and then somehow wound up stifling a giggle. Somehow she didn't think that this was quite what River had been eluding to. Or at least she hoped it wasn't.

"What's so funny?" the Doctor asked, tracing what felt like an intricate pattern on her back with his fingertips.

"Stop it!" she shrieked, falling back down onto the bed and pulling the covers over her head. "That tickles," she added, her voice muffled.

He popped his head under the covers, grinning widely before kissing her nose and throwing the blanket back from them. "Right then, where to now?" And just like that, he was up and heading for the door. "There's a coffee for you on the bureau, when you're ready," he called over his shoulder. She smiled at his back and shook her head.

Everything was different and yet nothing had really changed.

* * *

"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?" the Doctor asked, sweeping his hair out of his face as he started the time rotor.

Rose shrugged. "We've seen worse," she said, choosing to be fair even if she was a bit annoyed.

The third in their group still still stood by the door, awed by her surroundings. "It's so much bigger-"

"Bigger on the inside?" the Doctor finished. "Yeah, I get that a lot. Love that bit."

"Magic?"

"More  _sciencey_ ," he smirked.

"Oh, yes," she said, moving swiftly toward the Doctor, a dangerous glint in her eye.

"Doctor?" Rose interrupted. "The call?"

The Doctor looked from one woman to the other, and suddenly seemed to snap back to his senses. "Right! Yes, of course. 2367, here we come!"

Rose rolled her eyes as she watched the Doctor pilot the TARDIS while also attempting to avoid their guest's increasing advances. She had actually been excited to experience the wonder that was ancient Egypt firsthand, but quickly realized that she should have known better. There always had to be some reason other than general entertainment for why they landed where they did, and an alien locust attack seemed par for the course. But to then be propositioned by Queen Nefertiti… What was it with him and royalty? Queen Victoria had been a laugh, but of course she was older at the time. Rose wondered if things would have been different if they had come across a younger incarnation of the queen when she was suddenly pulled from her thoughts by a loud snap, amused to see that the console had sparked at the pair of them. There was no doubt she and the TARDIS were, in fact, on the same page.

* * *

When they arrived at the Indian Space Agency in 2367, the three were quickly ushered into the command center where they reviewed scans of an unidentified ship on a collision course with earth. Although several attempts to communicate had been made, all failed. Never one to back down from a challenge, the Doctor agreed to try intercepting the ship and preventing the crash. Of course there was a catch that he was most displeased about. He only had a few hours to do so before the ISA would be sending missiles up to take care of the problem themselves. First though, they had to collect some help.

"Doctor? We're on a bit of a deadline, yeah?"

"Yup," he replied, winking as he popped the 'p' just as he used to. Apparently it didn't help. "No? Okay." He sighed. "Six hours, 12 minutes to save the planet."

"Then  _why_  aren't we doing that?" Rose asked, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

The Doctor stared at her, momentarily thrown by how much she reminded him of Jackie. "We are! I told you, we needed help, so we're here. Getting help. Now you and Neffy stay in here, I'll be right back!" Before Rose could protest further, the Doctor ran out the door and into the middle of an African campsite.

"Have you known the Doctor long," the Egyptian Queen asked Rose imperiously, once they were alone.

Rose eyed the other woman, not really jealous but still not happy with her presence. "For a while," she replied.

"That man is certainly something."

"Yes, he is." Rose tried to keep herself busy, and even managed to pull up the monitor so that she could see what the Doctor was up to outside.

"He allows you to take command of his craft?"

"Excuse me?" Rose scoffed. "He doesn't have any say in the matter," she countered, stroking the TARDIS gently while she mentally added, _Isn't that right, girl?_  "That is entirely between her and me." The TARDIS blinked the lights in agreement.

Not being one to typically take direction from men herself, Neffy was pleased with that response.

"He's coming back… and he's not alone."

The Doctor entered the TARDIS then, accompanied by another man, dressed for a safari.

" _Not_  sisters this time, then?" the man asked.

"Riddell!" the Doctor admonished, knowing that Rose wouldn't let him forget that. And he had a feeling he was already pushing his luck with her. He turned to check and frowned at the look she was giving him. Yes, he was going to have to do something to fix this, but now wasn't the time. Instead, he ran to the console. "One more stop, and then we're off!"

The TARDIS began it's dematerialization sequence, and they were off. One quick stopover in 21st century London and the group was complete.

As he piloted them to the other ship, the Doctor glanced sideways at Rose and was relieved to see her grin as she saw who they just picked up. "Hello!" he shouted across the room. "You weren't busy, were you? Well, even if you were, it wasn't as interesting as this probably is. Didn't want you to miss it. Now, just a quick hop."

 _More like a quick tumble_ , Rose thought as they landed with his usual (lack of) grace.

"Alright then, everyone grab a torch," the Doctor instructed, taking a torch in one hand and Rose's hand in the other, as he walked out the door. "What do you think?" he asked Rose, examining their surroundings.

"The spiders are strange," she said, eliciting a nod from him. "But I think that you need to start paying attention to what you do." He looked at her, completely confused. "You always skip a step."

"What do you- You!" he yelled, rushing over to a strange man that had just exited the TARDIS. "D'you really think I'm that stupid I wouldn't notice? How did you get aboard? Transmat? Who sent you?"

Rory took a deep breath. "Doctor…that's my dad."

"Well, frankly, that's outrageous. What makes you think you can bring your dad along without asking? I'm not a taxi service, you know!"

Rose shook her head. "You really never pay attention, do you? You materialized around them, remember?"

"Oh, well, that's fine then, my mistake. Hello, Brian, how are you? Nice to meet you. Welcome, welcome! This is the gang. I've got a gang - yes! Come on then, everyone!" With that, the Doctor led the group down the hallway, moving cautiously as he was still taking in their surroundings.

Amy looked from her husband and father-in-law to the Doctor, Rose, and the others that were now walking away. "Just tell him something, quick," she said before chasing after the Doctor.

"Yes, thanks!" Rory yelled after her. How was he supposed to explain all of this to his father? He took a deep breath, and went with honesty. "You know when Amy and I first got married and we went travelling?"

"To Thailand."

"More the entirety of space and time. In that police box. Now come on, we're falling behind." He led his father after the others and hoped that they'd catch up quickly.

Amy, meanwhile, had worked her way to the front of the class. "All right, where are we, there's something different, and what is that noise? And hello! Ten months!"

"Orbiting Earth - well, I say orbiting, more like pre-crashing on a spaceship, no idea what you're talking about 'different' - don't know, and hello, Pond," he said, hugging her. "Ten months, time flies. Never really understood that phrase. You know Rose," he paused, smiling as the girls hugged each other. It really did make him happy that they got on so well. "And this is Neffy, this is Riddell. They're with me."

"With you?" she asked, still standing by Rose. "They're with you, are they the new us? Is that why we haven't seen you?"

"No, they're new," Rose replied quietly, knowing Amy could pick up on her annoyance.

"They're not Ponds! I thought we might need a gang, not really had a gang before, it's new."

"What happened to Captain Jack?" The Doctor shot her a withering look. "Okay, sorry I asked," she mumbled.

The sound of machinery grinding was growing in volume. "It's coming down," the Doctor said.

"What is it?" Riddell asked.

"No idea," he responded, gripping Rose's hand tightly in his own.

"Here goes nothing," she whispered, a small smile appearing on her face as a door opened in front of them.

Everyone stared in wonder as a bright light blinded them. And the the roaring began.

Brian was the first to react. "Not possible!"

"Run!" the Doctor shouted, although he seemed to ignore his own advice.

"Doctor!" Amy yelled, urging him forward.

He misunderstood. "I know! Dinosaurs! On a spaceship!" Giddy didn't even begin to describe the look on his face as two Ankylosaurus roared their way out of the lift.

The group ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction, diving around a sharp corner and into a narrow corridor that Nefertiti spotted. One by one they filed in, to safety. The Doctor pushed Amy ahead of himself, turning to make sure that Rose was still right behind him once he rounded the corner. Sure enough, she ran right right into his arms and throwing her own around his neck, was unable to suppress a burst of laughter as he spun her around just in time to avoid the dinosaurs. They both missed the suspicious look that Amy and Rory exchanged.

"Dinosaurs!" Rose exclaimed gleefully. "Dinosaurs in space!"

"I could take one of them, short blow, up into the throat," Riddell offered, pulling out his knife.

"Or not," the Doctor stated, catching the murderous look on Rose's face. "We've just found dinosaurs, in space. We need to preserve them."

"And who's going to preserve us?"

This time it was Amy who intervened before Rose could attack him. "Shut it," she hissed, venturing back into the corridor once the danger seemed to have passed.

"Dinosaurs," Rory began. "OK, so, how? And whose ship?"

This was all just a bit much for Brian. "Sorry. Sorry. Are you saying dinosaurs are flying a spaceship?"

"Brian, please! That would be ridiculous." The Doctor looked confused when Rose slapped him on the chest and mouthed  _Rude_. "What? They're probably just passengers. Did I mention the missiles?"


	18. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, Part 2

The Doctor couldn't understand why everyone was so hung up on the impending missile crisis. They had more than six hours to fix this, and that really was loads of time. What he needed to know though was how to gain control of the ship in order to avoid said crisis.

As the group continued to wander, they came across a room full of various pieces of equipment, although it was overgrown with vines and spiderwebs. Amy and Rose began clearing off some of the stations. "How many dinosaurs do you think are on here?"

"Maybe if he can get the system back up we'll be able to find out," Rose said as the Doctor used his sonic on a computer and was pleased to see it come to life.

With Rory and Brian looking over his shoulders, the Doctor began searching for the engines. "Thank you, computer. Look at that, different sections have different engines, but these look like the primary clusters. We need to get down to these engines. Rose, could you-" he suddenly cut off as he, Rory, and Brian disappeared.

Rose groaned and rushed to the computer they had just disappeared from to see if she could either bring them back or follow in their wake.

"What happened?" Nefertiti asked.

"I think I may have gotten it back online," Rose said, just before she disappeared as well.

Amy shook her head and stated "Oh, great!"

* * *

"...take a look at this?" the Doctor slowly finished as he realized that they had just been teleported to a beach?  _No, that can't be right_ , he thought. "Teleport! Oh, I hate teleports."

"We're outside," Brian said. "We're on a beach." This was a bit much for him to process. He was not a fan of travel in general, and suddenly finding out that his son and daughter-in-law had brought him on a trip through space and time pushed him over the edge. "Thank you, Arthur C Clarke! Teleport, obviously, I mean, we're on a spaceship, with dinosaurs, why wouldn't there be a teleport? In fact why don't we just teleport now!" he demanded, stalking off.

Rory could hardly blame his father for reacting like that. In fact, the only one he could really place blame on was the Doctor. Sometimes he wondered if the Doctor pulled stunts like this on purpose. Deciding to keep his own frustration in check though, he looked around them trying to find something that might help them get back to Amy and the others.

"Is that a kestrel?" Brian asked, walking back over to them.

Once again the Doctor looked excited, but Rory was still trying to find something that might be useful. "Doctor, the beach is humming."

"Well, don't just stand there, dig!" the Doctor commanded. "I'm going to look at rocks. Love a rock."

Rory looked around helplessly, trying to find something to dig with and was amazed when his father pulled a trowel from his pocket. "Seriously? Did you just have that on you?"

"Of course! What sort of a man doesn't carry a trowel? Put it on your Christmas list."

"Dad, I'm 31. I don't have a Christmas list any more."

"I do!" the Doctor shouted from the rocks in the distance. Before he could go back to his examination of the rocks though, something caught his eye and he grinned.

"If this is Norway, you're in trouble!" Rose yelled from where she had landed, just behind Rory and Brian on the beach. The Doctor's grin faltered.

"Still the ship," Rory muttered, not really paying attention as they had just hit metal. "Wait, Rose! If you're here, then we should be able to teleport back."

She gave him a small smile and shook her head. "Sorry, couldn't reverse it. Didn't expect it to take me too though. Now what's that?"

"There's a floor under this beach!"

The Doctor nodded, excited again. He called Rose, Rory, and Brian over to the rock wall where he had managed to find a computer access point. Now he just had to figure out why they were teleported to the beach in the first place.

"Doctor," Rose began. "You were looking for the engine room, yeah?" He nodded. "Well…?"

"But we're outside," Brian interrupted, refusing to believe that they were still on the ship. "That is ridiculous."

"Well, it is quite ridiculous, also brilliant. Rose is right. That's why the system teleported us here - I wanted the engines. This is the engine room! Hydro-generators." He grinned and hugged Rose. "How cool is that? Think of the things we could learn from this ship if we manage to stop it being blown to pieces."

"Plus, not dying."

Rose was watching the sky. She didn't like the look of the creatures that were circling above them, growing closer with every loop. "Doctor?" she said softly, but he wouldn't be interrupted.

"Bad news is - can't shut the wave systems down in time. Takes… takes way too long."

Rory looked over at the screen as well. "If these are the engines, there must be a control room."

"Exactly," the Doctor agreed. "That's what we need to find."

"Doctor," Rose repeated, gesturing to the sky. He finally looked up, his eyes wide.

"So, what do we do about the things that aren't kestrels?"

"Oh, my Lord. Are those pterodactyls?"

"Yes," the Doctor said. "On any other occasion, I'd be thrilled. Exposed on a beach, less than thrilled. We should be going."

Rose grabbed the hands of both the Doctor and Rory, who thankfully grabbed his stunned father by the collar, and began running. She saw a cave entrance when she first landed on the beach, and decided that it was probably their best option.

"What's the plan?" Rory shouted.

"Run," Rose replied. "Running is the plan!"

The Doctor nodded, looking up and behind them only to find the pterodactyls gaining on them. "Yes, and amendments welcome! Run from the pterodactyls!"

The four ran as fast as they could into the mouth of the cave, only just making it in time. As Rose, Rory, and Brian stood panting, the Doctor turned to her. "Really? Norway…?

* * *

Amy was getting annoyed. First the Doctor was teleported with Rory and Brian, and now Rose was gone too. What was she supposed to do with these with these two? She might as well be on her own here... And furthermore, was that one  _drinking_?

"Put that away, I need you sober."

"It's medicinal. And I don't take orders from females."

Amy raised an eyebrow at him, but it was Nefertiti that rounded on him. "Then learn. Any man who speaks to me that way, I execute."

"You're very welcome to try," Riddell taunted.

"Sorry, what was your name again?"

"Lady of the Two Lands, wife of the Great King Amenhotep, Queen Nefertiti of Egypt."

Riddell's eyes opened wide with impressed shock while Amy tried to control her inner fangirl from coming out. She failed and ended up gushing her excitement at meeting the Egyptian queen. "I learned all about you at school. You're awesome! Big fan, high-five! Okay yeah, bit behind on that. You're really famous."

While Riddell was awed to be in Nefertiti's presence, he also realized that they needed to move. The fact that they were about to sneak past a sleeping T-Rex really made him want a drink, but he kept that feeling in check. Instead, he helped Nefertiti and Amy before carefully jumping over the dinosaur himself.

"Who are you, anyway?" Amy asked.

"John Riddell. Big game hunter on the African plains. I'm sure you've heard of me, too."

"No, men who hunt defenceless creatures just don't impact on history. Face it, she's way cooler than you."

"And you, Amy? Are you also a queen?"

Smiling to herself, and praying that Rory would never be told about this, she answered. "Yes. Yes, I am." Besides, it was pretty much true. She even had her very own Roman honor guard, if she could find his stupid face somewhere on this ship.

The three continued to make their way through the ship, stumbling a bit when they found another room overgrown with plants and vines. Amy ignored the others as she started pressing buttons, bringing the computer to life and turning the lights on in the room. She smirked and said a quick thanks to the Doctor.

"How did you know how to do that?"

"I've spent enough time with the Doctor to know whenever you enter somewhere new, press buttons."

"What else have you learned from him?"

"Don't stop at button-pressing." Determined to find something useful, she continued to press buttons and insert various discs into the computer.

They all fall silent as a disembodied voice spoke out. " _One hundred and seventeen years..._ "

"Data records," Amy explained.

Riddell was trying to make sense of the static on the screen. "Ship's owners?"

"Could be. Come on, help us out..."

" _...will remain cryogenic space sleep... I will continue to work...far beyond our mapping..._ "

All that she wanted was an image to go along with the voice. Was that so much to ask? Just some idea of what other creatures they might be facing. Amy grew increasingly frustrated at the computer's lack of cooperation, resorting to hitting the side of the monitor. Which seemed to work.

"Look!" Nefertiti said. "It's beautiful."

" _I can't tell how far we have come. Far enough to avoid the destructive impact forecast for our planet. Far enough for me to feel a profound sense of loss._ "

"What is that?"

"Silurian."

* * *

"I'm sorry, okay?" Rose insisted in an angry whisper, attempting to avoid his gaze by walking slightly ahead of the boys and trying to keep an eye out for approaching creatures.

"I know!" the Doctor hissed back. "And I know it was my fault and I deserve to be blamed, but-"

Rose almost let him off the hook. She really had meant the comment as an innocent joke, but he took it at face value, which annoyed her even more. "But what?" She glared at him and he almost cowered. Almost.

"Will we be doing this  _every time_  there's a beach?"

"I don't know. Yeah. Maybe," she snapped, still trying to keep this private.

"Rose..."

Rory quickly realized that no good could come from his being a part of their conversation. His father, however, was trying to make sense of it. "What's that all about?"

"Don't know, don't want to know, not our business. Gotta find a way out."

Brian was fascinated. "Some sort of lovers' quarrel, I suspect."

Rose's head popped up, her eyes flashing humiliation, while the Doctor looked quickly from Brian to Rory to the wall, his ears turning red.  _Well that's just perfect_ , Rory thought, realizing that he was friends with the woman who apparently was now sleeping with his daughter's husband.  _Fantastic_. Amy was not going to be happy about this new revelation. Nor was River.

A loud thudding noise interrupted the awkward silence that had fallen, and continued to grow nearer. Between the noise, the embarrassment, and the general stress of the situation, Rose could feel a headache coming on. The fact that they were also trapped at the end of a hallway certainly didn't help things. She took a deep breath and rubbed her temples, causing the Doctor to look at her with concern. Before he could ask what was wrong, two large, rusted robots appeared before them. The Doctor quickly stepped in front of Rose.

"We're very cross with you," one of the robots told them as the other gestured for them to follow.

The Doctor shrugged, took Rose's hand in his, and began walking down the hallway, fairly certain that they would be fine. It was obvious that the robots were taking them somewhere, so they might as well play along. This ship seemed to be a gift that just kept on giving, which was saying something. Especially as they rounded the next corner and came across yet another dinosaur. "Oh! Herbivore, Brian. Don't panic."

"Isn't she beautiful," Rose breathed, in awe of the creature walking toward them. "Doctor, do you think I can…?" she trailed off, her hand outstretched.

"Of course!" He grinned, and stepped forward as well. "Hello, cutie-pie. Who's a lovely Tricey then, eh? Yes, you are. Yes, you are." Both he and Rose were stroking the Triceratops' snout and grinning like idiots. Suddenly though, she turned her attention to Brian.

"What do I do?! What do I do?!"

"You don't have any vegetable matter in your trousers, do you, Brian?"

"Only my balls," he replied, causing Rory to facepalm. "Golf balls? Grassy residue."

Rose giggled at the exchange, trying not to outright laugh at the expression Brian made when the dinosaur licked his face. She and the Doctor gave each other the same amused smile before he advised Brian to simply throw a ball to distract the dinosaur. Sure enough, the trick worked and she ran off to fetch the ball.

"And breathe out," the Doctor said to Brian before turning back to the robots. "Right! Take us to your leader." When he saw the expressions on both Rose's and Rory's faces he shrugged. "What? Too good to resist." Rose wrinkled her nose and shook her head, but she reached for the Doctor's hand anyway. He happily entwined his fingers with hers as they made their way down the unfamiliar corridors, their argument temporarily forgotten.

* * *

Amy was gradually working through the mystery that was the data drive she had stumbled upon. It sounded as though there were over 50 species on board at one point, but what still puzzled her was what happened to the Silurians in the first place. When she did a scan for homo-reptilia, no life signs were found, which was very disturbing considering the purpose of the ship had finally clicked. "We're on an ark. A Silurian ark."

"Lizard people herding dinosaurs on to a space ark? Absolute tommy-rot."

Nefertiti glared at Riddell. "Only an idiot denies the evidence of their own eyes."

"Egyptian queen or not, I shall put you across my knee and spank you."

"Try and I'll snap your neck in a heartbeat."

"Mm. Well, they certainly bred firecrackers in your time."

Amy knew that she had reached her limit with this. "No! Please, don't start flirting. I will not have flirting companions!" She turned back to the computer. "Now what happened to the Silurians?"

"Perhaps they found another world, left the ship," Nefertiti offered.

Amy shook her head. "Why are the dinosaurs still on board? And why is the ship coming back to Earth? It doesn't make sense. What's changed between then and now? Wait - computer, show me the ship at launch with all life signals. Now show me the ship today with all life signals. Thousands less. But why? I mean... Show me both images, then and now, side by side."

Together, Amy and Nefertiti examined the before and after images. The key to solving the mystery had to be somewhere between the two. Looking closer, she saw it. Right in the center of the ship. "Another spacecraft. This ship's been boarded before." Amy pulled out her phone.

* * *

Rose did her best to keep track of the turns that they made, the various corridors that they were marched down, just in case a quick getaway was needed but it was too much. By the time they arrived at the entrance of what seemed to be another ship, her head was pounding, the headache in full swing. The Doctor squeezed her hand in support before letting go and walking forward, toward the gate.

"Love what you've done with the place down here," he said.

"Let him in," a gruff voice ordered. "Open the gate."

The Doctor walked through, with Rose about to follow right behind, when it suddenly closed behind him. "Doctor!" Rose called, reaching for him before being pushed back by one of the robots.

"It's fine," he assured her. "I'll be fine."

"He's not interested in  _you_ ," the pushy robot told her.

Rory stepped forward, catching Rose before she stumbled into the wall. "Look, you need to learn some manners," he replied. He turned to Rose. "You alright?"

"Fine, yeah. Just a headache," She smiled faintly as Brian put an arm around her. "I have a bad feeling about this…" Rose focused all of her energy on the Doctor, trying to glean what was happening on the other side of that gate.

* * *

The Doctor looked around this new ship, and was startled as he was scanned by a bright blue light. Although this bedridden man, Solomon, insisted that it was nothing, something told the Doctor not to believe him. For now though, he simply wanted to help. "What happened to you?"

"I was attacked," Solomon told him. "Three raptors. They cornered me. The robots rescued me, but it was nearly too late."

"Ah, yes. The robots. They're...unusual."  _And annoying. And rude_.

"I got them cheap, from a concession on Illyria Seven. The robots did as best they could with my legs, but... you can help me so much more."

"Oh, a  _doctor_  doctor! I see." With that revelation out of the way, proceeding was much easier. He took a moment to examine Solomon's wounds, which were quite extensive but which Solomon insisted that he repair. "If you tell me how you came by so many dinosaurs," he countered.

"Injure the woman."

"What?" the Doctor yelled, making it to the gate just in time to see one of the robots shoot Rose in the arm and her collapse.

"Rose! Rose, it's alright. You'll be fine," Rory assured her, springing into action as Brian cradled her head.

The Doctor, knowing that Rory would take care of her, turned back to the old man, glaring. "I don't respond well to violence, Solomon."

"And I don't like questions, Doctor. You boarded without my permission. Now, fix me or the next bolt will be fatal."

Fortunately, this was the sort of thing that Rory was prepared for. While his father carried around a trowel and golf balls, he always kept a first aid kit on hand. As he applied a bandage to Rose's shoulder, he turned to the robots. "I will take you apart cog by cog, and melt you down when all this is over."

Brian called Rory's attention back to Rose, who had begun shaking violently, almost as if having a seizure. Before he could do anything about it though, she suddenly fell still. Rory checked to be sure that she was breathing, wishing that they were in a hospital. After a few minutes though, her breathing remained steady which he felt was promising. So he continued to treat the burn, startled when his phone rang.

"Your phone's ringing," Brian said. "In space!"

"You get used to it. I have to take this. The wife. Hello, Mrs," Rory answered, relief flooding through him at the sound of Amy's voice.


	19. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, Part 3

The Doctor was not happy to be put in this situation. He didn't like being separated from Rose, especially when she was injured as a result of his brazen attitude. However, he decided to suck it up and just fix Solomon's injuries. Especially since he didn't feel like talking when there was a gun pointed at his head. As he worked, he also made a quick study of this secondary ship that somehow was stuck in the middle of the larger one.

"I'm transporting it to the Roxborne Peninsula," Solomon interrupted the Doctor's thoughts.

"The commerce colony. You're a trader."

"I search out opportunities for profit across the nine galaxies."

"Ah, the blue light. That's what it was. An IV system - identify and value: the database of everything across space and time, allocated a market value. Argos for the universe. You were trying to find out how much I'm worth."

"Would you like to know?"

The Doctor smirked when the results appeared on a nearby computer monitor. Oswin had certainly done a thorough job. Not only did she delete him from the Dalek mind, but from every database in the universe. She gave him the greatest gift, an anonymous fresh start. "That's me. Worthless. Unlike these creatures you have on board. Very valuable... given they're extinct. Now sit up, slowly," the Doctor instructed, just as Rory called out to him.

"Doctor? Amy."

As Amy told him what she and the others had discovered about the Silurian ark, the Doctor cast a worried glance over at Rose, whose eyes were still shut. Brian smiled reassuringly, and he nodded. "Be ready," he whispered, turning back to Solomon. "What did you do to the Silurians?"

"We ejected them. The robots woke them from cryo-sleep a handful at a time, and jettisoned them from the airlocks. We must have left a trail of dust and bone."

"Because you wanted the dinosaurs…"

"Their ship crossed my path. I sent out a distress signal. They let me board. But when I saw the cargo, things became more complex."

It was almost as if Rose was watching the scene unfold in a dream. She was still lying on the floor, her head resting on Brian's lap, with her eyes closed but her mind was alert. She heard the Doctor accusing Solomon of things such as piracy and genocide. She didn't doubt that the words were true. The more that the Doctor uncovered though, the angrier she became.

"Rory," Brian quietly called, unsure of what to do. Rory turned to him about to ask what was wrong when he saw it too. There was a golden glow emanating from Rose. It reminded Rory almost of regeneration energy, but that couldn't be possible. Just as he was about to call out for the Doctor, the man himself appeared.

"He wants to see you," he told the robots as he walked out from the gate, straining to maintain a poker face as he saw Rose. Once the robots disappeared, he rushed to her side, about to lift her when she suddenly disappeared. "No!" The darkness returned to his eyes as he ran down the corridor, Rory and Brian just behind him.

"What happened? Where did she go?" Brian demanded.

"Not sure. Hopefully back with Amy and the others." He was trying to reassure himself as much as Brian. He didn't have time to think about that now. Instead he focused on the fact that Tricey was back and an idea quickly formed in his head. He ran and jumped up on her back. "Geronimo! Ponds, come!" Brian and Rory climbed up as well. "Go, Tricey! Run like the wind!" It didn't work. "How do you start a triceratops?" he asked, as the robots appeared behind them and started firing.

Brian pulled out another golf ball and threw it down the corridor. "Tricey, fetch!" And they were off.

"Come on, Tricey! Faster, baby!" How long would it take for them to find Rose? What he needed was access to the ship's computer so that he could run a scan for life forms. Then he'd be able to find Rose and the others. Fortunately, Tricey chose that moment to come to a halt which caused the three men to fall to the floor. The Doctor jumped up and found a computer access point as Tricey dropped the golf ball at Brian's feet before she collapsed contentedly to the floor.

Just as he was about to run the scans, the computer displayed an incoming message from Earth. "Hello, Earth! How are things?"

" _Doctor, the ship's coming through the atmosphere. I have to start the missile program._ "

"No. No, no, no - don't do that, everything's under control here, turning round any moment. Need a bit of wriggle room on the timings..."

" _I can't do that._ "

"You can, of course you can. Tiny bit more time, please. This ship contains the most precious cargo..."

" _My only responsibility is the Earth's safety. I'm launching the missiles. Goodbye, Doctor._ "

"No, come back! Please!" The Doctor let out a cry of frustration. The missiles had locked on and he didn't know how to fix it.

There was a flash of light, and Solomon appeared with his robot sidekicks. "You were telling the truth, Doctor," he said. "Earth has launched missiles. This vessel is too clumsy to outrun them, but I have my own ship."

"You won't get your precious cargo on board, though. It'll just be you and your metal tantrum machines," the Doctor replied, distracted. He still needed to find the others.

"You're right, Doctor. I can't keep the dinosaurs and live myself. But I had the IV system scan the entire ship and it found something even more valuable. Utterly unique. I don't know where you found it or how you got it here, but I want it."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do. I want the Bad Wolf."

* * *

Now that Amy knew that everyone else was alright, she was able to focus back on the task at hand: finding a way out of their hidey-hole laboratory, past the dinosaurs, and to the Doctor. He would then be able to get them off the this ship and to safety. Probably. Yes, definitely.

"Ha!" Riddell exclaimed, pulling a rifle from a cabinet. "These are exactly what we need - dinosaur protection."

Amy turned in horror. "No weapons!" Looking closer though, she realized what he was actually holding. "Anaesthetic. These are stun guns. You're almost clever."

"Enough to make a dinosaur take a nap. Even the Doctor couldn't object to that."

Curiosity getting the best of her, Nefertiti rounded on Amy. "You and the Doctor... Are you his queen?"

"What? No. I'm Rory's queen," she answered without thinking. "Wife. I'm his wife. Please don't tell him I said I was his queen - I'll never hear the end of it."

"And the Doctor, does he have a queen?"

Amy didn't want to think about that too closely right now. So, she decided that avoidance was the best policy. "I thought you had a husband."

"A male equivalent of a sleeping potion."

Riddell smirked at that. "You clearly need a man of action and excitement. One with a very large weapon."

"So, human sleeping potion or walking innuendo. Take your pick."

Amy and Nefertiti smiled at each other when a golden light appeared out of nowhere, blinding the trio before the bulk of it faded away, leaving Rose lying on the floor. "Rose!" Amy rushed to her side. "Are you okay?

Rose's eyes slowly fluttered open, still shining with hints of gold, her hand rubbing her temple as Amy helped her into a sitting position. "The Doctor," she muttered. "I have to get back to him…"

"Amy, look!" Nefertiti called, pointing back to the monitor. They all crept closer, staring at the picture. It was the Doctor, Rory, and Brian as well as 3 others.

* * *

The Doctor simply stared at Solomon. How could he know about her?

"A mythical being, simply known by those two words, stamped across history. But she has a face. And it is here. Give her to me, and I will let the rest of you live."

"No," the Doctor whispered, ice in his voice.

"You think I won't punish those who get in my way? Whatever their worth?" He gave a nod to the robots and one stepped forward, shooting Tricey.

Rose's heart broke at the look on the Doctor's face. He had gone over to the triceratops, kneeling beside her in comfort as she died. In that moment she knew that there was no other choice.

"You must be very proud," the Doctor hissed.

"Bring her to me. Or the robots will make their way through your corpses. Bring her now."

"No."

Once again, Rose closed her eyes and the golden light washed over her. This time though it also encompassed Amy, Nefertiti, and Riddell, transporting all of them to the Doctor's side.

"What are you doing?" the Doctor hissed at her.

"What d'you think?"

"No, no, no, no - no way."

"Really? We've been through this so many times. It isn't your choice anymore. It's mine."

The Doctor grabbed her arm, frantic at the thought of losing her again. "Listen to me, if you go with him, I can't guarantee your safety."

Rose shook her head and gently cupped his cheek in her free hand. "You know this has to be. Get the others to safety, please."

Leaning his forehead against hers, the Doctor nodded slightly. "My Rose," he breathed. "Defender of Earth…" And then he felt, no heard, it in the back of his mind. Rose's voice.  _Get them to the control room and I'll see you soon. Trust me._  He jumped back as if electrocuted, giving her an accusatory look as she offered a quick tongue-in-tooth smile before wiping her face of all emotion. How had she done that? Before he could question her though, she had also moved back, joining Solomon and his minion robots.

"My bounty increases," the old man smirked. "And what an extraordinary bounty you are."

"Touch me and you  _will_  regret it," Rose glared.

"I like my possessions to have spirit. It means I can have fun breaking them. And I will break you in, with immense pleasure. Thank you, Doctor. Computer? Take us back to my ship."

Everyone looked from the spot where Rose had been standing with Solomon, that was now empty, to the Doctor who was standing there breathing heavily. Amy could tell that he was trying to keep his anger under control.

"What's the plan?" Rory asked.

"The missiles are locked on to us, we can't outrun them, we have to save the dinosaurs and get Rose back from Solomon. Isn't it obvious?!"

"It's sort of the opposite of obvious."

"We have 17 minutes before the missiles hit, we need to turn this ship around," he said, using his sonic on the computer.

"You said it was too late," Rory countered. "That there wasn't any time."

"Ah, yes, but I didn't have this plan and they didn't have Rose then, right? Riddell? Keep an eye out for dinosaurs."

"I was rather hoping you'd say that," the man grinned, cocking the gun in his hand and moving to the door as the Doctor ducked down to examine one of the computer posts more closely.

"No!" the Doctor shouted, "Don't be like that! Really unhelpful."

"What?" Amy asked, rushing over. "What's the matter?"

"Parallel pilot compartments, bio-configured, needs two operators of the same gene chain. That's why Solomon couldn't change the ship's course and neither can we."

Brian looked at him quizzically. "But we can. Me and Rory. We must be the same gene thingy you just said."

The Doctor grinned. "Brian Pond, you are delicious."

"I'm not a Pond."

"Course you are. Sit down, both of you. Ship does all the engineering, the controls are straightforward, even a monkey could use them - oh, look, they're going to. Guys, come on, comedy gold. Where's a Silurian audience when you need one? Anyway, two eye-line screens - velocity and trajectory. Steer away from Earth, try not to bump into the moon otherwise the races who live there will be livid." The Doctor used his sonic on the chairs to make sure that they were activated, and then let the Ponds drive. "Eight minutes, 45 seconds. Get us as far away as you can." He turned back to the post where he had been tinkering before. "Right, phase two sorted. Now for phase one."

"What're you doing?" Amy asked, crouching beside him.

"Mixing my messages. How's the job?"

"Rose was just kidnapped and we're about to be hit by missiles, but you're asking me that?"

"I work best when I'm multi-tasking. Keep talking. How's the job?"

"I gave it up."

"You gave the last one up."

"Yeah, well I can't settle. Every minute, I'm listening out for that stupid TARDIS sound."

The Doctor shook his head. Amy too? "Right, so it's my fault now, is it?"

"I can't not wait for you. Even now. And they're getting longer, the gaps between your visits." She paused, hesitating. "Sometimes I think you're weaning us off you."

"I'm not, I promise," he said softly. "Really promise. The others, they're not you. But you and Rory, you have lives. Each other. I thought that's what we agreed."

"I know. I just worry there'll come a time when you never turn up, that something will have happened to you and I'll still be waiting, never knowing."

"No! Come on, Pond. You'll be there till the end of me."

"Or vice versa," she said, a thought occurring to her. "That's it. That's why you left Rose. Isn't it?"

Before he could answer her, his sonic beeped at him. "Done," he said, pulling an object out from inside the post just as Riddell came back into the room.

Although he enjoyed the task at hand, Riddell found that he was quickly overwhelmed. "Doctor? This is a two-man job." He turned back and was surprised to see Nefertiti pick up one of the rifles. "What're you doing?"

"I am easily worth two men. You can help too, if you like," the Egyptian queen said, smugly following him back out into the corridor.

Amy looked back to the Doctor about to ask what he was doing when he disappeared, teleporting from the room. She made a frustrated noise and shook her head before grabbing another rifle and chasing after Riddell and Nefertiti, more than ready to shoot something as Rory and Brian worked on piloting them to safety.

"Dinosaurs ahead, ladies at my side, about to be blown up. Not sure I've ever been happier," Riddell exclaimed.

"Shut up and shoot," Nefertiti commanded before turning to Amy. "And you," she began. "You were wrong. The Doctor most certainly does have a queen."

Amy puzzled over the statement for a split second before setting it aside for later. Right now she focused on the task at hand, working together with the others in what looked like a carefully choreographed dance. The three of them twisted and spun around, firing at the dinosaurs to keep them at bay.

* * *

"It's not going to work," Rose calmly said from her seat on Solomon's ship, the golden trail of light returning to her palm.

He glared, trying to take off but still not having any luck. "Come on, come on," he urged. "We're not moving." The sound of metal clanging against the ship gave him a clue as to what the problem was. "We're magnetised. We can't move away!" Solomon whirled around, grabbing Rose by her neck, and forced her to rise.

"I told you not to touch me," she spat, feeling the power of the wolf within her strengthen as she carefully articulated each word.

It was just as Rose sent a current through the robots that were now flanking Solomon's side and causing them to crumple that the Doctor teleported onto the ship. "Hello," he said, taking in the situation. "Experiencing some technical difficulties? Guess we couldn't bear to lose you…"

"Release my ship, Doctor, or I kill this precious little object."

The Doctor let out a chortle as Rose sent a shock through Solomon that sent him flying across the room. "Oh, you thought that was me? Sorry to disappoint…"

Rose raised her hand in front of her, trapping Solomon within a web of golden light. "I am not your possession now, nor will I ever be. Now don't move."

"Didn't anyone ever teach you not to mess with the Big Bad Wolf Solomon?" the Doctor taunted as he walked over to the ship's controls.

"What are you doing?" Solomon demanded.

"Disabling this ship's signal and replacing it with the one from the Silurian ship. I send this craft off emitting the signal they're looking for, the missiles will Silurian ship safe, dinosaurs safe, everybody safe. Bit tight for time though, shouldn't really be chatting. Rose, let's go." He took her hand in his and lifted it up to his lips, before turning back to Solomon. "How remiss of me, almost forgot - the thing about missiles, very literal, this is what they latch on to." He set something down on the floor in front of Solomon.

"And then it's just a matter of demagnetizing the ship," Rose finished.

"Whatever you want," Solomon begged. "I can get it for you, whatever object you desire."

The Doctor glared at the man, ice running through his veins. "Did the Silurians beg you to stop? Look, Solomon. The missiles. See them shine. See how valuable they are. And they're all yours."

Together, the Doctor and Rose crossed the gate leaving Solomon's ship behind them. "Enjoy your bounty," Rose spat as she turned back to him, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath and released her hold on the ship. They stood there a moment, watching as the ship flew off with the missiles in hot pursuit reaching their target less than a minute later. Turning from the explosion, the pair made their way hand-in-hand, fingers entwined, back to the control room to let the others know that the danger had passed.

It was time to go home.


	20. Nuptial Agreements

The TARDIS seemed strangely quiet now that all of their guests were gone, especially the Ponds. The Doctor missed them already and was a bit hurt by the fact that they had so quickly wanted to go home. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy being alone with Rose, he most certainly did, but there were still secrets between them that he didn't know if he was ready to address.

Just as he had piloted them into the time vortex, Rose appeared next to him in the control room. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"What?" he asked, distracted as he tried to decide where to go.

"The thing…"

"What thing?"

 _Don't play that game with me, Doctor_ , she said inside his head.

"Oh, that thing," he smirked, heaving an internal sigh of relief.

Rose grinned and nudged him with her shoulder. "Well, that. And the  _other_  thing…"

"What- Oh!  _Oh_. Yes. Lovely thing, that," he teased, nudging her right back.

"Shut up," she laughed.

"Right, sorry. Did you want to talk about it?"

She shrugged and moved to sit on the stairs. This was far more awkward than Rose had anticipated. "Dunno. Do you?"

The Doctor looked at Rose, trying to figure out what exactly she was looking for. Nearly 1200 years old, give or take, and women were still a complete mystery to him. He knew that he loved her. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt and with everything that he was, that he was in love with this girl. This beautiful pink and yellow girl that knew nearly every one of his secrets, what horrors he was capable of, and yet stayed by his side.

"Horrors? Do you really think that?" she asked.

He sighed. "That's hardly fair. You can hear me, but I can't hear you unless you project? Besides, you really shouldn't eavesdrop on someone's private thoughts…"

"Well, you need to work on your shielding. You've been alone for so long, you're not used to having to share your head with anyone other than Sexy here."

"How'd you-?" She raised an eyebrow in response. "Right. I'll work on that, thanks."

"Actually, that one was Amy. But I don't do it on purpose, not usually. John helped me learn to control it…"

"Do you miss him?"

"Every day," she said without hesitation, not noticing that his face fell. "But every day it also hurts less." Rose paused, trying to find the right words. "I didn't think that it ever would, but… But it did, it does. Because of you. Being with you helps."

Rose watched the Doctor's face rapidly change expressions as his thoughts moved from one to the next. She did him the favor of keeping out of his head because he was right, it really wasn't fair that she could sneak her way in. It had never been her intention to violate his sense of privacy, but then she had grown used to sharing a telepathic link with someone who reciprocated and could control it. She mentally chastised herself for taking advantage of the situation in such a way, even if it was mostly by accident.

"Rose," he started barely above a whisper. "How... He told you his - no, our -  _my_ name." She nodded, but didn't speak. "He could only have told you that if-" He stopped himself before he said the words and fell onto the jump seat. Just the thought of Rose,  _his Rose_ , married to someone else... Even if that someone else was for all intents and purposes him. It was too much.

"It wasn't anything big, just the family." The ghost of a smile crossed her features as she remembered the day. "Mum was fit to be tied, she wanted this huge affair. Neither of us would agree to it though, it didn't seem right. He knew that his time was running out..."

"So you  _married_ him." Rose looked over at the Doctor, unsure of what he was implying. "Why didn't you tell me?" The hurt in his voice was overwhelming, but the fury building in Rose at these words quickly overpowered them both.

"Why didn't _I_  tell  _you_?" she repeated, letting her anger get the best of her. "Why should I? Haven't you got secrets of your own, Doctor?"

The Doctor's head snapped up. Of course he had secrets. But how could she... _Oh, god_. It suddenly dawned on him that she knew. That she had known this whole time. He knew that he should have come clean sooner, that he should have explained everything to her.

"Rose, I-"

"Don't. Just, don't." She wiped an angry tear from her eye as she got to her feet. "I'll see you later." And with those words she stalked off, leaving him alone and feeling very much like an idiot.

* * *

Rose knew that she was wrong to place so much blame on him for this. It wasn't his fault that John had died within weeks of their handfasting ceremony, leaving her a widow. Nor was it his fault that she knew all about River Song and the wedding that never really was. She just needed some time to cool off and get her thoughts in order, something that the TARDIS understood and was more than happy to assist with.

She entered the newly created room and couldn't suppress the grin that made its way to the surface. It was a perfect replica of her favorite jogging trail back on Pete's World. And if anything could clear her mind, it was a good long run.

* * *

The Doctor never should have kept River a secret from Rose, especially not after what had happened between them. He knew that it was wrong. While he was also hurt by the fact that she hadn't mentioned her marriage to the meta crisis - no, John - he could understand why. She was a widow.

It was a strange thought, Rose in that role. The word didn't conjure up an image of his beloved pink and yellow girl, but instead something far darker and more depressing. Of course she wouldn't want to dwell on that part of her life. Ever the optimist, his Rose would always look ahead to something better.

With that in mind, he was determined to make this up to her, to make things right. But first there was someone that the Doctor needed to see.

* * *

Rose stepped out of the shower feeling much more herself. The run and the hot water had done wonders for her mental health, and once she had fully dressed and finished her hair, she felt ready to face the Doctor again.

Making her way slowly back to the console room, she was surprised to find it empty. Just as she was about to leave and look for him elsewhere an image of the Doctor appeared in front of her.

"TARDIS voice interface," the message began, causing Rose to gasp as a deluge of memories flooded her mind. "Rose, if you're seeing this then I'm gone." Rose's hand flew to her mouth. "Don't worry though," he continued hurriedly, "I most definitely am coming back! Sorry, I just remembered the last time I left you a message like this you took in the entire time vortex and that pretty much changed everything about you and, well, here we are and I'm rambling. Someone usually stops me at this point, but no one is here.

"Anyhow, like I said, I will be back. Soon, I expect. Just popped out to take care of something. I had hoped to be back before you finished whatever it was you were doing, but I guess that didn't work out. Time Lord that needs to work on my timing. Nothing new there, I suppose. Right. Rambling again. That should do it then. I promise, I'll see you soon."

Rose smiled slightly and shook her head, wondering how long she would be on her own. Before she could decide what to do though, she realized that someone was standing behind her.

"That man. He never knows when to stop talking, does he?"

Rose turned, shocked and yet not. "Hello, River."

"Hello, sweetie," she said, making her way to the console and starting the time rotor. "Turnabout is fair play, I suppose. Now how about you and I go on a little trip of our own?"

* * *

The Doctor fidgeted slightly as he stood in front of the achingly familiar door. It had been so long since he was last here, although it might have only actually been a few days if he remembered correctly. Taking a deep breath, and steeling himself for what was most likely waiting for him on the other side, he knocked.

"Hold on, I hear you," came the response from inside just before the door swung open. "Can I help you?"

His breath caught in his throat and tears stung his eyes as he took in the face he hadn't seen for decades, if not centuries. He looked the woman in the eye and said, "Hello, Jackie."

"Sorry, do I know you?"

"Yes! Sorry, new face. I'm the Doctor," he grinned, straightening his bowtie.

"Doctor who?" she asked, somewhat tartly, he noted.

"No who. Just the Doctor."

"Bollocks," she whispered, dropping the phone that was in her hand.

"I promise you, Jackie. It's me. Just not the me that you know."

Jackie looked at the man standing in front of her. He looked so young, too young to be the Doctor. However, when she looked into his eyes, she saw something familiar... They were the eyes of someone who had lived beyond their apparent years. Then she realized that someone was missing. Before she could even verbalize the question, she slapped him across the face, almost as if in preparation.

"Oi! What was that for?" he demanded, rubbing his jaw although truth be told he was elated that she cared enough to hit him.

"If that's really you, then where's Rose?"

"That's why I'm here, actually."

Jackie stared at him. She had just seen her daughter with the Doctor, the new proper Doctor, two days ago. If this man really was who he claimed to be, then that meant something happened. Something bad. She stepped aside to let him in.

"What happened to her?" Jackie asked, sliding down into a chair. "Is she hurt? Where is she? I want to see her!"

"What? No! Rose is fine. She's with me right now, well old me. Well, and now me. Blimey, this is hard..." He rubbed a hand across his mouth and decided to try again.

"Out with it already!" Jackie demanded, all doubt as to whether or not this was actually the Doctor now gone. She had never met anyone else capable of being so infuriating when speaking.

The Doctor nodded and took another deep breath. Before losing his nerve, he quickly spoke from his hearts. "Jackie, I am in love with your daughter, have been since the big ears and leather, and would like your permission, no blessing, to marry her."

He looked her directly in the eyes, praying that she would approve.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Rose shouted at River over the surprisingly loud TARDIS. She had never heard the ship practically scream about moving, and could only assume it was because the Doctor hadn't returned yet.

"It's time for a wedding. Oh, I do love a good wedding, don't you?" Without waiting for a response, River continued. "Me neither. I'm rubbish at weddings, especially my own."

"Sorry, what wedding?"

"You'll see," River said, grinning slyly.

As River entered the coordinates, the TARDIS seemed to ease her reluctance to do as instructed. In fact, Rose could feel the approval and encouragement now rolling over her in waves.

River watched Rose's expression change from confusion to content understanding. "She speaks to you, doesn't she?"

"Pardon?"

"The TARDIS."

Rose smiled. "A bit, although not with words usually. Mostly just feelings."

"But you are connected, right?"

"You know the answer to that," Rose smiled. She stroked the console gently before continuing. "Yes, she's a part of me just as I'm a part of her."

"Good. We're going to need that in order to pull this off."

Rose looked at River, confused. What could they possibly be doing at a wedding that would involve her link to the TARDIS?

"Here we are," River said, checking the monitor before heading to the door. "After you."

Rose walked out onto the lush green countryside, unsure of exactly where - or when - they were. She had just turned to ask River when they were suddenly surrounded by a heavily armoured guard with their swords drawn, ready to attack.


	21. Prequel: The Power of Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had planned to go here with this plot for a while, and then the 50th came along. Adaptations had to be made...

Rose glared at River as they were frog-marched toward a large white tent by the guardsmen. She couldn't understand why the other woman was being so complacent about their situation. From what she had gleaned about River, she was generally more of a fighter than this. It seemed as though she had a plan though, so Rose decided to remain quiet. For now.

As they reached the entrance, one of the men stepped inside. They could just make out the muted voices, although most of the exchange didn't carry. River did turn to Rose with a slight smirk when they heard the phrase "the blue box," though. And after another moment, they were led inside.

"Leave us," a voice commanded.

"But, my Lady-" the guard protested.

"Now." Without further word, he left at her command. Once alone, the woman stepped out from behind the curtain that had separated them. She turned to Rose and River, a look of anxiety on her face. "Have you a message from my Lord and King?"

"What are you ta-" Rose began.

River rolled her eyes and interrupted, with authority, "No, your Majesty. But we do have a wedding gift from the one called Bad Wolf." At the mention of those words, both of the other women's eyes snapped toward River, who smiled.

"Well, it seems you know the legend of the Wolf and arrived in the blue box, yet I am expected to believe that my Lord Husband did not send you? I am Queen Elizabeth of England. I will not listen to impertinent lies."

"Husband?" Rose echoed, unable to decide whether hurt or anger was the proper response. Not one incarnation of the Doctor had mentioned marrying Queen Elizabeth the First. Suddenly she felt an influx of memories entering her mind. Memories that weren't exactly hers, but somehow were at the same time. She looked to River, wondering if she was experiencing the same. Before she could ask though, she folded to the ground, her vision clouded in gold and a look of clinical detachment overtook her features.

* * *

The Doctor walked away from the Powell Estate with a spring in his step and a slight sadness in his hearts. Although elated after his conversation with Jackie, he knew that it would be the last time he ever saw her. Granted they always had their differences, but she was an amazing woman who had done an incredible job raising Rose on her own.

It broke his hearts to think that he wouldn't be able to take Rose to see her, he had already risked so much within their established timelines to make this visit possible. There was only so much that a fragile human mind can take, and he didn't want to risk damaging Jackie's to indulge a(nother) personal whim that she wouldn't remember. He did find solace in knowing that she still had a lifetime of happy years ahead of her, complete with the love of her life. Much like her daughter, he hoped.

As he made his way back to the TARDIS, something unexpected caught his eye. Many somethings, to be exact. He bent down for a closer look, lifting one of the strange black cubes in his hand. "What are you?"

* * *

"Is she well?" the Queen asked, surprised by her own concern for the young girl.

"Oh, yes," River responded. "If you know the tale of the Bad Wolf, then you should recognize her when she is here in the flesh."

"I don't understand."

"You don't have to," River said, somewhat coldly.

"You dare-"

"Enough." Rose stood then, her eyes flashing gold as she looked from one of the Doctor's wives to the other. In the back of her mind she wondered how many others there had been, how many there would be. She ignored the urge to count them all, instead choosing let her other self take over and address the task at hand. "What do you know of us? Me. No, the Bad Wolf?"

"It is said that Bad Wolf comes in times of grave peril. Summoned when humanity's need is so great, that there is no other option."

"Oh, Liz, how wrong you are," River said, shaking her head. "It isn't humanity, it's one man. Always one man."

* * *

Momentarily sidetracked from his trek back to the TARDIS by the mysterious cubes, the Doctor followed a trail of them to a nearby playground. Climbing to the top of the jungle gym, the Doctor examined one of the cubes, puzzled by its very existence. He sat there lost in thought until the sound of his name broke through from across the park.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted again, trying to catch his attention.

He jumped from his perch and grinned, happy to find both Ponds rushing over to him. "Invasion of the very small cubes. That's new."

Amy threw her arms around him, engulfing him in a hug while also managing to smack him upside the head. "It's been too long, you know."

"Yes, yes. Good to see you too."

"Doctor, where's Rose?" Rory chimed in. It had been a few days since he had last spoken to her, and it sounded like things were a bit strained.

"She's fine, she's back at the TARDIS," replied somewhat dismissively as he followed Amy back into the Ponds' home. "Hello, Brian!"

Brian looked up from the television to greet the Doctor, who sat beside him taking in the news report.

" _World leaders are appealing for calm. After the global appearance of millions of small cubes. Despite official warnings, people have been taking the cubes from the streets into offices and homes._

_"What are they? Where do they come from? And why are they here?_

_"Well, they're certainly not random space debris. They're too perfectly formed for that. Are they extra-terrestrial in origin? Well, you'll have to ask a better man than me."_

At that, the Doctor sat up taller and straightened his bowtie, grinning.

* * *

"I will always come when my Doctor has need," Rose said, amazed at her ability to harness the Wolf within herself.

" _Your_  Doctor?" the Queen asked, incredulous.

River chuckled darkly. "You have no idea... Very possessive, this one."

Rose smiled at her, feeling as though she and River had somehow reached an understanding. The Queen, however, was not amused. "You dare speak of my husband, the King, in such flippant terms?"

"You may think him your husband, but there is still a great secret that he has kept from you," Rose admonished the Queen, another thought occurring to her. She quickly dismissed it, saving it for later. "It doesn't matter now though. Our time here is running short, and I can feel the Doctor's need growing," Rose informed them. "Your gifts: Two paintings," she continued. "One to remain hidden with the rest, but that shall prove its worth when the time is right. And the other for you to remember what you briefly held as your own."

"I don't understand," Elizabeth whispered.

"You will when you see them," River said. "If you will follow us?"

"And why should I?"

Rose inhaled deeply and she looked Elizabeth in the eyes, tilting her head. "Why do you insist on playing this game? You will come because history has said you would." And with that, Rose turned to exit the tent and lead their party back to the TARDIS.

"After you, your Majesty," River smirked, gesturing for the Queen to exit next.

* * *

"What do you make of them?" Rory asked the Doctor, who reached into his pocket for the sonic screwdriver.

As he pulled the sonic out, he dislodged another item that came flying out and onto the floor. His eyes widened and he momentarily froze, hoping that no one noticed the small velvet box. Just as he made to sweep it up though, Amy beat him to it.

"What's this?" she asked, tossing the box from one hand to the other.

"Nothing, give it back," the Doctor demanded. He reached to take the box from her, but before he could, she passed it over to Rory who examined it for himself. "Oi! Careful with that!"

"Doctor, is this what I think it is?"

"Yes. No, no! How should I know? I can't read your mind. Now give it back!" The Doctor could feel his ears turning red, although he wasn't sure whether it was embarrassment or frustration.

Amy glared suspiciously at the Doctor. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much..." She reached over toward Rory to grab the box when he suddenly took pity on the Doctor and returned it. She looked disappointed, but the Doctor was relieved.

"Thank you," he muttered, tucking the box safely back into his pocket. "Now about these cubes... All absolutely identical. Not a single molecule's difference between them. No blemishes, imperfections, individualities."

This time Brian spoke up. "What if they're bombs? Billions of tiny bombs? Or transport capsules maybe, with a mini robot inside. Or deadly hard drives. Or alien eggs? Or messages needing decoding. Or they're all parts of a bigger whole. Jigsaw puzzles that need fitting together."

"Very thorough, Brian. Very, very thorough. Well done. Stay here. Watch these. Yell if anything happens."

"Is this an alien invasion?" Amy asked. "Because that's what it feels like."

"There couldn't be life-forms in every cube, could there?"

"I don't know," the Doctor replied. "And I really don't like not knowing, especially with Rose still out there. I need to go get her, and we'll be back soon."

* * *

After ensuring the safe delivery of both paintings to the Queen's castle, River and Rose took their leave; River off to complete some research she had been working on and Rose back to London and the Doctor, each looking forward to the time when their paths would cross again.

Elizabeth had much to reflect upon, not the least of which was the warning that the two women had left her with. The King's, no the Doctor's future was in her hands. With this in mind, she sat down at her desk and put ink to parchment.

" _My dearest love, I hope the painting known as Gallifrey Falls will serve as proof that it is your Elizabeth who writes to you now. You will recall that you pledged yourself to the safety of my kingdom. In this capacity I have appointed you as curator of the Under Gallery, where deadly danger to England is locked away. Should any disturbance occur within its walls, it is my wish that you be summoned. God speed, gentle husband."_

* * *

"Doctor," Rory began. "Rose is in the TARDIS?" The Doctor nodded. " _That_  TARDIS?" he asked, pointing toward the kitchen where there TARDIS was in the midst of materializing.

"Of course that TARDIS! Do you know of another- wait. What?" The Doctor, Rory, and Amy all stared at the same spot, their jaws dropped.

Just then the TARDIS door opened and Rose's head popped out. "Hello," she grinned, tongue in teeth.


	22. The Power of Three, Part 1

The Doctor simply stared at Rose, his mouth gaping at the sight of her and the TARDIS. He couldn't fathom how she had managed to appear here and yet there she was, there they both were.

"How'd you do that?" Rory asked. Rose creased her brow, unsure what exactly he meant. "You can fly the TARDIS? I thought only he and River could..."

At the mention of River's name, Rose felt a gentle nudge in the back her mind.  _They cannot know. When the time is right, all will be revealed, but not before_. She closed her eyes and mentally nodded her understanding. Facing Rory, she smiled. "Oh, this old girl and I go way back." She turned to the Doctor next, and reaching out, pushed his chin up to close his mouth. "What's that about?"

The Doctor took Rose's hand in his own, their fingers entwining reflexively, and instantly he knew all was well between them. Grinning like the madman that he was, he quickly raised joined hands up so he could kiss her wrist before turning his attention back to Amy and Rory. "Right, I need to use your kitchen as a lab. Cook up some cubes. See what happens."

"Cubes?" Rose asked. Amy tossed one in her direction, a bit harder than she probably should have, which Rose only barely caught.

Looking from one woman to the other Rory sighed, happy to have an excuse to step out. "Right, I'm due at work."

"What? You've got a job?"

"Of course I've got a job. What do you think we do when we're not with you?"

"I imagined mostly kissing," the Doctor said, earning a swat on his chest from Rose.

Amy rolled her eyes. "I write travel articles for magazines and Rory heals the sick."

"My shift starts in an hour," Rory called. "You don't know where my scrubs are?"

"In the lounge, where you left them!"

The Doctor smiled sadly and squeezed Rose's hand before moving to set up his makeshift lab. "All the Ponds, with their house and their jobs and their everyday lives. The journalist and the nurse. Long way from Leadworth."

"We think it's been ten years," Amy said. "Not for you or Earth, but for us. Ten years older. Ten years of you, on and off."

"Look at you now. All grown up."

Rose smiled at the two of them, happy to see the Doctor with his closest friend. At first she had almost been jealous of Amy's relationship with him, but once she met Rory it was obvious that they were nothing more than friends. Deciding to give them a moment, she turned her attention to the cubes on the counter only for them all to look up in shock as a loud crashing sound came from the front of the house, immediately followed by an onslaught of unfamiliar footsteps. Several men in full SWAT gear burst into the room, guns trained on the three of them.

"Clear! Trap one, kitchen secured."

"Trap three, back garden secured."

Several more soldiers entered the kitchen, Rory marching ahead of them at gunpoint, tuporn between annoyance and embarrassment. "There are soldiers all over my house, and I'm in my pants."

Amy shook her head. "My whole life I've dreamed of saying that, and I miss it by being someone else."

Rose grinned, although the smile faded as another person entered the room, this one a woman.

"All these muscles, and they still don't know how to knock. Sorry about the raucous entrance. Spike in Artron energy reading at this address. In the light of the last twenty four hours, we had to check it out, and the dogs do love a run out. Hello. Kate Stewart, head of scientific research at UNIT. And with dress sense like that," she trailed off, scanning the Doctor with a piece of equipment, "You must be the Doctor. I hoped it would be you."

The Doctor stepped forward, making sure to put himself between the UNIT soldiers and Rose. "Tell me," he said. "Since when did science run the military, Kate?"

"Since me. UNIT's been adapting. Well, I dragged them along, kicking and screaming, which made it sound like more fun than it actually was."

Rose smirked at the woman before them, instantly approving of her. "What do we know about these cubes?" she asked.

The Doctor paced the room as he listened to the rigorous tests that Kate and UNIT had already run on the cubes. He didn't like hearing that no matter what they always remained in tact. "That's impressive. I don't want them to be impressive. I want them vulnerable with a nice Achilles heel."

Kate nodded. "We don't know how they got here, what they're made of, or why they're here."

"And all around the world, people are picking them up and taking them home."

"Like iPads have dropped out of the sky. Taking them to work, taking pictures, making films, posting them on Flickr and YouTube. Within three hours, the cubes had a thousand separate Twitter accounts."

"Twitter?" Rose repeated, disgusted.

"The cubes arrived in plain sight, in vast quantities, as the sun rose. So, what does that tell us?"

Amy looked at the Doctor and Rose. "Maybe they wanted to be seen. Noticed."

"Or more than that," the Doctor cut in, "They want to be observed. So we observe them. Stay with them round the clock. Watch the cubes, day and night. Record absolutely everything about them."

Rose grinned, a cube in one hand, and now the Doctor's hand in the other. "Team cube, in it together."

* * *

Rose walked into the lounge with a tea tray in hand. She was starting to feel bad for Amy and Rory, they had never seen the Doctor go stir crazy like this. Fortunately, she had some experience with it though.

"Four days. Nothing! Nothing! Not a single change in any cube anywhere in the world," he whined. "Four days, and I am still in your lounge!"

"You were the one who wanted to observe them," Amy pointed out.

"Yes, well, I thought they'd do something, didn't I? Not just sit there while everyone eats endless cereal!"

"You said we had to be patient."

"Yes, you! You, not me! I hate being patient. Patience is for wimps."

Rose's jaw dropped, she was so appalled by his behavior. She flicked his shoulder and hissed her usual warning, "Rude!"

"I don't care. I can't live like this. Don't make me. I need to be busy."

Amy had nearly reached her breaking point as well. "Fine! Be busy! We'll watch the cubes."

Beaming triumphantly, the Doctor jumped up and ran outside. He promptly began doing miscellaneous chores, fixing the garden fence, mowing the lawn, and even fixing the car. He finally distracted himself by playing with a football, seeing how long he could keep it off the ground. "Rose, look! I'm at 100 and still going..." Continuing on (and with a brief break to vacuum the house) he kept counting, "Four million nine hundred ninety nine, five million."

Jumping back onto the sofa, the Doctor snaked an arm around Rose and stole a biscuit off of her plate. "That's better. Nothing like a bit of activity to pass the time. How long was I gone?"

"Er, about an hour," she said, stifling a laugh.

"I can't do it. No."

"Where are you going?" Amy and Rory both asked as the Doctor jumped right back up, pulling Rose with him toward the TARDIS.

"You can't just leave, Doctor!"

"Yes, of course we can. Quick jaunt, restore sanity. Ooo, hey, come if you like."

Rose pursed her lips. "They can't always just go off like that."

"Can't they?" The Doctor seemed genuinely shocked at this revelation. "Can't you? That's how it goes, isn't it?"

"I've got my job."

"Oh yes, Rory. The universe is awaiting, but you have a little job to."

"It's not little. It's important to me. Look, what you do isn't all there is."

"I never said it was," he sighed. "All right. Fine. Rose and I will be back soon. Monitor the cubes. Call me. I'll have the Tardis set to every Earth news feed." He suddenly turned to Rose, nervous. "You are coming, right?"

She smiled, tongue in teeth. "Just you try to stop me!"

Grabbing the Doctor's hand in hers, Rose led the way into the TARDIS. As the door shut behind them, a news anchor appeared on the television screen with another update. " _At the end of a week of cubic questions and theories, but no answers, could this be the greatest stealth marketing campaign in business history? And if it is, will those behind it ever come forward and explain exactly what it's for?"_

* * *

It had been just over two months since Amy and Rory last saw Rose and the Doctor. Although Rose made sure to check in from time to time, life was surprisingly normal for the Ponds. So much so, in fact, that neither thought twice about making plans for the future.

"I said yes," Rory told his wife. "They asked me to come on full time, and I committed."

Amy nodded, equally amazed. "And I committed to being a bridesmaid. Months in advance. Like I know I'm going to be here."

"So the Doctor and Rose are God knows where, the cubes aren't doing anything at all. Did real life just get started?"

"I like it."

"So do I."

The next morning, Rory went downstairs to put coffee on before heading to work, like a proper adult. Smiling to himself about this realization, he almost walked right into his father, who was recording a video diary entry.

"Brian's log, day sixty seven. Cube was quiet all night, once again. Cube was quiet all day, as per previously. No movement. No change in measurements. End of entry."

"You stay up and watch it all the time."

Brian looked at his son as though he was crazy. "I film it while I'm asleep. When I wake up, I watch the footage on fast forward. I e-mail the result to UNIT. My middle name is diligence."

"Wow. I can't wait to see day sixty eight."

"Don't mock my log. I'm doing what the Doctor asked."

* * *

The Doctor and Rose continued to monitor the situation with the cubes as they traveled. Thinking it could be worthwhile to see firsthand how other countries were handling the situation, it was Rose who suggested that they pop over to America. It was the Doctor being the Doctor though that landed them in the Old West, just outside of a town called Mercy.

They actually ended up staying in Mercy longer than initially intended, but that's what happened when people were in need. Working together, they rallied the town and once everything settled, they helped ensure that the new Marshall took up his post.

"I really like this new look," Rose said, a coy smile on her face, as she traced the brim of the Doctor's Stetson.

"Why thank you, little lady," the Doctor replied in a forced American accent. He pushed himself off of the TARDIS and swept Rose up into his arms, grinning as she shrieked with delight and grabbed the Stetson off of his head to put it on her own.

He carried Rose into the TARDIS, shuddering slightly as she kissed him along his jaw. Things were progressing nicely in his opinion, so when the phone rang, he groaned and let loose a string of profanities in his native Gallifreyan.

Rose put the hat back on the Doctor's head and lowered herself down from his arms. "You get that, and I'll go change," she winked. "Don't be too long though..."

The Doctor watched her walk from the console room, took a deep breath, and ran a hand over his face before picking up the phone. "What?"

" _Hey! Doctor, it's me_ ," Amy said. " _Hello. So, the UN classified the cubes as provisionally safe, whatever that means, and Banksy and Damien Hirst put out statements saying the cubes are nothing to do with them. And the cubes, well, they're just here. Still. What's it been, nine months?_ "

As Amy prattled on, the Doctor did some quick mental calculations. If it had in fact been that long, then that meant... Really? Did it have to be now? He covered the phone and stage whispered for Rose.

She quickly returned to the room, wearing a dressing gown and cowgirl boots no less, causing him to groan again. She gave him a look of mixed confusion and amusement as he wrote down two words:  _Ponds' Anniversary_.

Rose smiled knowingly before tossing the dressing gown aside and responding with two of her own, "Time machine." And at that, the phone slipped from the Doctor's grasp.


	23. The Power of Three, Part 2

Amy walked back outside and into the garden, where the party was in full swing, still on the phone with the Doctor. "But anyway. I got to Laura's wedding. It was great. She's here tonight, being as it's our wedding anniversary. We thought you two might have dropped by. I left you messages."

"I know!" the Doctor exclaimed, appearing behind Amy who nearly jumped in surprise. "Happy anniversary! Now come with us."

Rose beamed as she handed her a large bouquet of flowers. "And bring your husband," the she added, sharing a conspiratorial look with the Doctor before leading the couple to the TARDIS.

* * *

The foursome stepped out of the TARDIS and into a lavish hotel suite. "26th of June, 1890," the Doctor began. "The recently opened Savoy Hotel. Dinner, bed and breakfast for two. Bonjour, bonjour. Merci, Auguste. You'll be back before the party's over. They won't even notice you went. No complications, I promise."

Overcome with both appreciation and excitement, Rory walked up to the Doctor and kissed him full on the mouth.

"Ooh!"

Rose cleared her throat. "Should we leave you two alone for a moment?"

Rory stepped back, sheepishly. "Really, though. This is fantastic!"

Linking her arm through the Doctor's, Rose smiled at the young couple. "Well, you two enjoy. We will see you in the morning." As they made their way back into the TARDIS, a dinging noise could be heard. "What's that?"

"Oh, no," the Doctor sighed. He knew from experience that when the thing went 'ding' it meant bad news. "I think we may want to get Amy and Rory back in here," he said, rushing back out of the TARDIS door only to find that Auguste had been replaced by a shape shifting Zygon. "Run!" he yelled, grabbing Rose by the hand and pushing the Ponds ahead of him.

* * *

Rose tried, and failed, to blow a lock of hair up and off of her face as she sat on the curb between Amy and the Doctor. "This is why we can't go to nice places..."

The Doctor nodded, absentmindedly tucking Rose's stray hair behind her ear. It certainly had been a long night, and not in the way he had planned. "Bit of a shock, Zygon ship under the Savoy, half the staff impostors. Still, it's all fixed now, eh?" He smiled hopefully at the others. "Shall we try something else?"

After ushering everyone back into the TARDIS, the Doctor decided to steer them toward a lavish, royal affair that they could enjoy.

"I thought we were going home?" Amy asked.

"You can't miss a good wedding," the Doctor replied, as he led Rose toward the chapel. He grinned at the fact that she was practically skipping with excitement, she loved these types of events. He was fairly certain that they had timed it just right, expecting to sneak in just after the processional. What he didn't expect was for Amy to mistake the Cardinal's voice for his own and to respond with an echoing "Yes," when she heard him speak.

Throwing the door to the nearest room open, the Doctor pushed them all inside and attempted to sonic it shut behind them. Amy scowled at his annoyed attitude.

Rose, at the sound of approaching footsteps, was more pragmatic. "Under the bed. Under the bed!" Once Amy and Rory had hidden under the big four-poster, she grabbed the Doctor's lapel and pulled him under as well.

"Shush!" he hissed as Amy and Rory argued in loud whispers.

"It wasn't my fault."

"It was totally your fault!"

"Somebody was talking, and I just said yes."

"To wedding vows! You just married Henry VIII on our anniversary."

In what turned out to be incredibly unfortunate timing, Rose burst into a fit of giggles at Rory's statement just as the monarch in question entered the room. Throwing the duvet back from the edge of the bed and peering underneath, Henry VIII suddenly came into view. Still snickering, Rose waved her fingers at the reigning monarch. "Hello!"

The Doctor made a disgusted noise and crawled out from under the bed, dusting himself off once standing. "You might want to have someone dust under there more often," he recommended to the king as the others quickly filed out behind him. The king all but growled at the impertinent remark, calling for his guards just after the Doctor ran out of the room after everyone else and back to the TARDIS.

* * *

Rose and the Doctor stood in the doorway of the back garden, his arms wrapped around her as she leaned back into his chest, watching Amy and Rory rejoin their anniversary party, slipping back in with their friends as if they hadn't disappeared. He sighed, content, and smiled as Brian walked over to them while also keeping an eye on his son and daughter-in-law.

"How long were they away?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Brian."

"Because they're wearing totally different clothes from earlier."

"Seven weeks," Rose answered, apologetically. "We may have gotten side-tracked."

"A lot," the Doctor added.

Rory looked over just then, motioning for Rose to join them. "Excuse me," she said, extricating herself from the Doctor's arms to join the happy couple.

"What happened to the other people who travel with you?"

The Doctor sighed, his hearts heavy. "Some left me. Some got left behind. And some, not many but, some died. Not them. Not them, Brian," he said, looking from Amy and Rory to Rose, who glanced up at the same moment giving him her tongue in teeth smile. "Never them."

Later that evening, after the guests had all left, the Doctor found himself alone with Amy in the garden while Rose was helping Rory clean up inside the house. "Amelia," he began. "Can we stay here, with you and Rory, for a bit? Keep an eye on the cubes. However long that takes."

"I thought it would drive you mad."

"No, no, no. I mean, I'll be better at it this time. I miss you."

Amy pulled him into a tight hug. "I miss you too, Raggedy Man," she whispered into his shoulder, before stepping back and looking him straight in the eyes. "But first, you tell me something. And if you lie, out you go."

The Doctor was taken aback by this, but nodded.

"Do you love her?"

"Yes," he breathed without hesitation.

"What about River?"

"What?" Amy raised an eyebrow and he began again. "Yes, I care for River very much. But it's not the same... I thought I had lost Rose forever, that this other half of me was gone. And then, that day in Utah, she was there. I felt whole for the first time in centuries."

"But you're married."

He sighed, not really wanting to have this conversation right now, but knowing it had to happen. "Not really. Weeeelllll, no more than you are to Henry VIII." He chanced a look at Amy and wasn't surprised to see that she was getting angry. "It didn't really happen. Amelia Pond, think about it. Do you remember the circumstances? The timeline wasn't real. You and Rory had no idea what you were agreeing to. The handfasting was barely a nod to the actual ritual. And," he swallowed, nervous about sharing this last part, "I never told her my name."

Amy instantly went from mad to confused. She had been there, she remembered. And River most definitely told them that he had told her his actual name. But then the realization came. River had even said it before, rule number one: The Doctor Lies. Subconsciously she nodded, able to accept this as fact. "Okay, Raggedy Man. One more question: what's in the velvet box?"

* * *

Rory looked out the kitchen window to check on his wife and the Doctor. "Do you think they're okay out there?"

"Why wouldn't they be?" Rose peered through the open door, confused.

"It just looks to be a bit heated..." He shook his head as if to dismiss the thought. "Rose, can I ask you something?" When she nodded, he continued. "Why did you find it so funny that Amy had sort of married Henry VIII?"

Rose couldn't help but start giggling again. "That's easy. That wedding marked the second time that Amy was but wasn't the Doctor's mother-in-law."

Rory stared at the blonde woman for a moment while he processed that. "Sorry, what?"

"Years ago, before he regenerated into that one," she said, gesturing out the window, "Weeeeellllll, technically... Anyhow, he actually married Liz I. So, that would make Amy her stepmother, and his mother-in-law."

"But River...?"

"Don't worry, she knows. We actually went to see Liz just after the wedding."

Once again, Rory was staring. "Sorry, what?" he repeated.

"Not important. But yes, I do know River. I've known who he believed she was for years, and now I know the truth behind it all. I'd like to think we've become friends even, which probably won't be making anything easier." Rose smiled sadly at the thought, knowing that the Library was growing ever closer. "You do have an amazing daughter, you know."

Rory shook his head, a small smile on his face. River was amazing, yes, but he didn't really have much to do with that. Their timelines were so out of sync, it was hard to know where they even stood half the time. He knew that she was in love with the Doctor, but then there was Rose. Seeing the Doctor and Rose together left no doubt that they were meant to be as much as he and Amy were. And if what Rose implied was true, then River was okay with that. Maybe things would turn out after all.

* * *

True to his word, the Doctor was much better this time around. With Rose's help, he was able to live linearly for the first time in hundreds of years. He found that domestics weren't so bad when he had someone there to distract him. In fact, he was amazed to find that he had actually started to enjoy himself. Spending time with the Ponds and Rose in front of the telly, eating fish fingers and custard (which he still didn't understand Rose's aversion to) was actually fun. Well, that and playing on the Wii.

And still nothing happened with the cubes.

Nothing, that is, until one day in July.

Rose was sitting quietly on the sofa, lost in a book, as the Doctor bounced around the room playing tennis on the Wii.

"Oh, yes! Second set, Doctor! Ha ha! Oh, if Fred Perry could see me now, eh?"

Without looking up, Rose responded. "Yes, love. He'd probably ask for his shorts back." She rolled her eyes internally as this was the 5th time they'd had this conversation.

He grinned, preening at the fact she called him 'love' so easily. "Third set decider, come on, then." He stood ready to finish the game and distractedly swatted at the cube floating in front of him. "Out of the way, dear, I'm trying to..." He suddenly realized what was happening. "Whatever you are, this planet, these people, are precious to me. And I will defend them to my last breath. Is that all you can do, hover? I had a metal dog could do that."

Rose looked up from her book during his speech. She slowly rose from the sofa to stand beside the Doctor, just in time to see something extend out from the cube. "What's that?"

Before he could answer though, the cube opened fire. The Doctor quickly swepy Rose up around the sofa, dodging the shots. Fortunately the only casualties were a vase and picture frame before the cube turned to the television where images flickered rapidly across the screen. Approaching it cautiously, but waving Rose to stay back, the Doctor moved in to observe it closer. "Ooo, you really have woken up."

"Rose? Doctor?" Rory called, rushing into the room. "Hi. Er, the cube in there, it just opened."

Amy rushed down the stairs wrapped in a towel. "The cube upstairs just spiked me and took my pulse!"

"Ha! Really? Ours fired laser bolts and now it's surfing the net."

Everyone turned as the front door slammed open and Brian entered. "You're never going to believe this. My cube just moved. It rattled."

They all started speaking at once, discussing this new revelation when Rory stepped away to answer his mobile. Apparently people were pouring into the hospital as cubes all over the city had attacked and they were extremely short staffed. Rory, of course, volunteered to go in and when he told the others, his father offered to help as well.

Once Rory and Brian left, the Doctor pulled out his psychic paper and grinned, passing it to Rose.

"What? Why are you so happy?" Amy asked.

"Looks like we're wanted at the Tower of London," Rose replied, taking the Doctor's hand in hers as they headed for the door.

* * *

Kate Stewart was waiting for them on the street when their car pulled up. The three had barely stepped out of the car before she started in. "Every cube across the whole world activated at the same moment."

"Now we're in business," the Doctor declared. "You sent me a message to my psychic paper. You know what? I'm almost impressed."

Rose and Amy trailed slightly behind Kate and the Doctor as they entered UNIT headquarters. Leaning toward Rose, Amy muttered "Secret base beneath the Tower. Hope we're not here because we know too much."

Kate smiled, turning back ti the girls. "Yes, I've got officers trained in beheading. Also ravens of death."

"I like her," they said in unison, walking faster to catch up and hear the explanations.

"There are fifty being monitored, and more coming in all the time. I don't know how useful it is. Every cube is behaving individually. There's no meaningful pattern. Some respond to proximity. Some create mood swings."

Amy and Rose each looked around the room where cubes ranged from shooting flames to playing the Chicken Dance on a loop.

"This is the latest," Kate told the Doctor, motioning to a monitor in front of them.

The Doctor sought Rose out from across the room before reading the screen. "Oh dear," he said. "Systems breach at the Pentagon, China, every African nation, the Middle East."

The Doctor's need to have Rose close by had not escaped Kate's notice, nor had the fact that the supposedly dead Rose Tyler was there in the first place. However, she would have to save that to consider later. For now she had the world's governments to deal with. "I'm lost, Doctor. We all are."

"Don't despair, Kate. Your dad never did. Kate Stewart, heading up UNIT, changing the way they work. How could you not be? Why did you drop Lethbridge?"

"I didn't want any favours. Though he guided me, even to the end. Science leads, he always told me. Said he'd learned that from an old friend."

He smiled sadly, remembering the man. "We don't let him down. We don't let this planet down."

Rose examined one of the monitors more closely and turned to look around the room. "They've stopped. The cubes, across the world, they just shut down."

"Active for forty seven minutes, and then they just die?"

"Not dead. Dormant, maybe."

"Then why shut down?"

"I don't know," he said. "I don't know. I need to think. I need some air. Who has an underground base? Terrible ventilation."

* * *

Once outside, the trio sat on a bench overlooking the Thames. Rose instantly recognized the look on the Doctor's face, he was blaming himself for all of this. "The moment they arrived, I should have made sure they were collected and burned. That is what I should have done."

Rose shook her head, but Amy actually spoke. "How? Nobody would have listened."

"You're thinking of stopping, aren't you? You and Rory."

"No. I mean, we haven't made a decision."

"But you're considering it." This time it wasn't a question. He squeezed Rose's hand, knowing that she didnt want to intrude on the conversation, but desperately needing her strength in this.

"Maybe," Amy sighed. "I don't know. We don't know. Well, our lives have changed so much. But there was a time, there were years, when I couldn't live without you. When just the whole everyday thing would drive me crazy. But since you dropped us back here, since you gave us this house, you know, we've built a life. I don't know if I can have both."

"Why?"

Rose understood. Possibly better than anyone else could. "They pull at each other, yeah?"

Amy nodded. "Exactly. They pull at me, and because the travelling is starting to feel like running away."

"That's not what it is."

"Oh, come on. Look at you, four days in a lounge and you go crazy."

"I'm not running away. But this is one corner of one country in one continent on one planet that's a corner of a galaxy that's a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much, so much to see, Amy. Because it goes so fast. I'm not running away from things, I am running to them before they flare and fade forever." He turned to smile at Rose before correcting himself. "We're running to them. And it's all right. Our lives won't run the same. They can't. One day, soon maybe, you'll stop. I've known for a while."

"Then why do you keep coming back for us?"

"Because..." He had to mentally steel himself to answer this time. "Because after a horrible day of loss, of saying goodbye to everyone, even to Rose, for what I thought was the absolute last time, you were the first. The first face this face saw. And you're seared onto my hearts, Amelia Pond. You always will be. I'm running to you, and Rory, before you fade from me."

"Don't be nice to me," she complained, nudging him with her shoulder. "I don't want you to be nice to me."

"Yeah, you do, Pond, and you always get what you want." He stopped short, his face alight with fierce determination. As he turned and caught Rose's eye, he knew that she had picked up on it too.

"They got what they wanted," she whispered, a smile spreading across her face.

"What? Who did?"

"The cubes," the Doctor shouted, jumping up. "That's why they stopped. Come on."


	24. The Power of Three, Part 3

The Doctor ran back into the Tower with Rose and Amy trailing behind. "Kate? Kate! Before they shut down, they scanned everything, from your medical limits to your military response patterns. They made a complete assessment of Planet Earth and its inhabitants. That's what the," the power abruptly cut off, plunging the room into a state of darkness as the Doctor finished his explanation. "Surge of activity was. Problem with the power?"

"Not possible," Kate said. "We've got back-ups."

Amy pointed Rose in the direction of one of the cubes. "Look at that."

"Doctor?" Rose called, trying to figure out why a number suddenly appeared on not only the cube in front of them, but the others as well. "Why do they all say seven?"

"Seven. Seven, what's important about seven? Seven wonders of the world, seven streams of the River Ota, seven sides of a cube."

"A cube has six sides," Amy corrected.

"Not if you count the inside." He continued to examine the cube, when it just as suddenly ticked down to six. " It has to be a countdown."

"Not in minutes."

"Why would it be minutes? Kate, we have to get humanity away from those cubes. God knows what they'll do if they hit zero. Get the information out any way you can. News channels, websites, radio, text messages. People have to know that the cubes are dangerous."

Rose was growing increasingly anxious, and a quick glance over to Amy proved that she was as well. "Okay, but why is this starting now? I mean, the cubes arrived months ago. Why wait this long?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Because they're clever. Allow people enough time to collect them, take them into their homes, their lives. Humans, the great early adopters. And then, wham! Profile every inch of Earth's existence."

"Discover how best to attack us," Kate agreed.

"Kate, you need to get that information out any way you can," Rose said, surprised to see that even though the power appeared to be out the computers were still all working and online.

"Every cube was activated," the Doctor muttered. "There must be signals, energy fluctuations on a colossal scale, there must be some trace. There can't not be. We need to think of all the variables, all the possibilities, okay? Go, go, go, go, go!"

Amy looked up to one of the screens and caught an emergency news bulletin just as the countdown moved again, to four. " _This is a national security alert. The Government advises that members of the public dispose of all cubes. If there are cubes inside your house, remove them immediately_."

* * *

Rory, Brian, and the entire hospital staff, were trying their best to stay on top of the frantic patients while also ridding them building of the cubes. Rory somehow managed to keep a level head, instructing his dad on where to find additional supplies in the hopes of keeping him out of harm's way. Of course that was probably too much to ask given that a few minutes passed and Brian still hadn't returned. "Have you seen my dad?" he asked one of the other nurses. Growing frustrated at the negative response, Rory stepped out of the front chaos and into the back corridor to look for him himself.

There, at the far end of the hall, was a pair of orderlies with Brian on a gurney between them. "Hey. Dad! Hey! Hey!" Rory called, chasing them until they disappeared into a goods lift marked with Do Not Use tape. He rushed over and pushed the button only to find the lift empty. However, once the doors closed, he touched one of the walls, which rippled. Having spent so much time traveling with the Doctor, he didn't even think twice before stepping through and wasn't remotely surprised to find himself on a spaceship in orbit above an Earth surrounded by clouds.

Taking in the sight before him, Rory's gaze noticed many seemingly unconscious people lying on similar slabs. Finding the one that he was looking for though, he rushed over. "Dad. Dad!" Turning back around, he saw the same orderlies heading toward him with hypodermics in their hands. "Just get away from him!"

* * *

The Doctor stood in front of one of the enclosed booths that held a cube on display, the countdown now down to two. Rose stood at his side, her fingers once again interlaced with his, nodding. She was ready.

"Doctor, please," Amy implored. "You don't have to do this."

"She's right. You don't have to be in there," Kate added. "We can do this remotely."

"Remotely isn't my style. See you after." Moving toward the door and releasing Rose from his grasp, the Doctor walked into the booth. Just as he was about to close the door, Rose walked in behind him, sitting down at the table. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Together, or not at all."

"Rose," he started, watching the cube countdown move to one. "You shouldn't…" He sighed in defeat at the look she was giving him.

Just as the countdown moved to zero, she grinned. "Geronimo."

They both leaned forward as the cube switched itself off and the lid opened.

"What's happening? What's in there?" Amy asked from the other side of the glass booth.

"There is nothing in here," Rose answered.

"Er, well, that's good. It's not, it's not bombs, it's not aliens."

The Doctor was confused. Which was something he didn't particularly enjoy. "Why? Why is there nothing inside? Why? It doesn't make any sense." He and Rose stepped out of the booth, trying to make sense of it all. Looking at the monitors, it appears that the same thing happened everywhere. The cubes were all empty, leaving people with a false sense of security. "All along, every action has been deliberate. Why draw attention to the cubes if they don't contain anything?"

That's when Amy noticed something. On the monitors, they watched as people across the world clutched at their chests in pain as they walked near cubes on the ground. The same, everywhere. "People are dying…"

"What? They can't be dying," he declared, rushing back over for a closer look. "How? How are they dying? The cubes brought people close together. They opened and then," he abruptly screamed in pain, clutching his own chest.

Rose gasped, staggering for a second before catching herself and rushing to his side, her eyes wide with fear. "Doctor, what's the matter?"

"Argh. Ah, I don't know!"

"Hospitals are logging a global surge in heart failures. Cardiac arrests."

"That's it. Oh! Oh! Oh! Only one heart. Other one's not working."

Rose froze, fear taking over almost completely. She couldn't lose him, not like this. Not again.

"Doctor! Hospital, now!" Amy commanded, helping him up and heading toward the door, but failing to notice that Rose hadn't moved.

"Oh, no, no, no, no. Just a short circuit," he insisted, more concerned about everyone else than himself. "Turn around, turn around! Tell me, show me. Ten seconds after the cubes opened, show me the patterns in their electrical currents." And there it was. A current in the form of a heartbeat. "The power cut. They zapped the power and then argh! They're signal boxes. People leaning in, wham. Pure electrical surge out of the cube targeted at the nearest human heart. The heart, an organ powered by electrical currents, short-circuited. How to destroy a human? Go for the heart. Ow. Crikey Moses."

"Doctor, the scan you set running. The transmitter locations. It's found them."

"And look at them all, pulsing bold as brass. Seven of them, all across the world. Ow! Seven stations, seven minutes. Why is that important? Argh! Ow, ow. How do you people manage? One heart, it is pitiful."

"Okay, how long are you going to last with only one heart?"

"Not much longer." It was then that he realized what he was saying and the impact that it could potentially have on a certain someone… "Rose?" he exhaled.

Rose was still kneeling frozen on the floor, her eyes transfixed on the spot where he had been lying moments before. Her mind was racing, terrified by the prospect of the Doctor only having one heart. She knew what had happened to John, memories that she didn't want to see flashing through her mind as she tried to tune them out, to focus on the here and now instead. There were people to help.

The Doctor looked at Amy, silently pleading with her to give him a moment with Rose before they moved on. She rolled her eyes in annoyance, but led him back to her and helped him down to the floor. Ignoring everything else around them, he cupped Rose's cheek in his hand and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye with his thumb. It was his gentle touch that brought her back to her senses. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she looked into the Doctor's eyes before throwing her arms around him. "I'm not going anywhere," he whispered. She nodded mutely, refusing to let the grief overtake her. "Now how about we save the human race. Again." He pulled back to give her a small, encouraging smile.

"Hope and Glory," she replied softly.

"Shiver and Shake," he assured her. Only then he took a shuddering breath, breaking the moment between them. She immediately went to stand, glad that Amy was there to assist her in getting him up.

"Right. To the hospital," Rose said, feeling more in control of her emotions.

"Rory's hospital," Amy added, pointing to the satellite picture of the transmitters on a nearby monitor. "Look."

* * *

"It's a wormhole, bridging two dimensions. Seven of them hitched onto this planet, and Rory just happens to work in the closest one." The Doctor shook his head in near disbelief, but no longer arguing as they made their way to the hospital. "I need to locate the wormhole portal."

He pulled out his sonic to try find the wormhole location. However, the readings he got led him over to a little girl in the waiting area. "Hello. Hello! You are giving off some very strange signals."

He, Rose, and Amy watched as the girl's face glowed blue. "Oh, my God…"

"Outlier droid, monitoring everything. If I shut her down, I can…" he staggered, once again clutching a fist to his chest. "Ah. It's alright, it's alright. I can't, Rose. I can't do it. Amy, I need both hearts!"

Rushing them into the back corridor, Amy grabbed a defibrillator off of a cart. "All right. Desperate measures."

"What? No. No, no, no," he cried, sinking to the floor. "That won't work. I'm a Time Lord."

"Shut up!" Rose commanded.

Amy nodded, and crouched beside the Doctor as Rose moved a few inches away. "Alright, clear!"

It didn't take but a second after the shock for the Doctor to jump up. "Whoo! Ooo. Ooo! Welcome back, lefty! Whoa-ho! Two hearts! Woo! Back in the game. Ah," he said, spinning a now laughing Rose around in a hug before rounding back on Amy. "Never do that to me again." And then, brandishing his sonic like a sword, he led the two girls down the corridor and toward the goods lift.

"Ah, portal to another dimension in a goods lift?" Amy asked.

"The energy signals converge here. Does seem a bit cramped, though."

Reaching out, Rose touched the wall that rippled earlier for Rory. "Through the looking glass, yeah?"

They all nodded in agreement, and stepped through onto the spaceship.

"Where are we?"

"We're in orbit. One dimension to the left."

"Rory!" Amy shouted, just having noticed him on a gurney, and rushing to his side. She turned, helpless, to the Doctor who handed her a vial of smelling salts. Waving them under Rory's nose, she sighed with relief when he immediately sat up. The relief was short lived though as someone started shooting at them.

"Woah!" the Doctor yelled. "What kind of a welcome do you call that?"

Rose turned to Amy, who was helping Rory up. "Get them out of here. You too. Now!"

"What about you two? What are you going to do?"

"Absolutely no idea. Get him to the portal," he instructed, indicating Brian who was still on the gurney. Amy and Rory only narrowly missed being shot by the mysterious alien in dark robes while making their way back to the wormhole with Brian. "Whoa!"

"So many of them crawling the planet," the alien accused. "Seeping into every corner."

"It's not possible," he said, almost in awe. "I thought the Shakri were a myth. A myth to keep the young of Gallifrey in their place." Rose stepped up beside him, her hand on his shoulder and her head tilted as she looked at the being in front of them. The Doctor looked at her from the corner of his eye, and shook his head slightly, almost able to tangibly feel the power building inside of her.

"The Shakri exist in all of time, and none. We travel alone and together. The Seven."

"The Shakri craft, connected to Earth, through seven portals and seven minutes."

"But why?" Rose asked, keeping her voice level.

"Serving the word of the Tally."

"Why the cubes? Why Earth?"

"Not Earth, humanity. The Shakri will halt the human plague before the spread."

"Erase humanity before it colonises space," the Doctor muttered to Rose before turning back to the Shakri. "We thought the cubes were an invasion. The start of war."

"The human contagion only must be eliminated."

"Who are you calling a contagion?" Amy demanded, arriving back behind the Doctor and Rose with Rory.

"Oi! Didn't she tell you two to go?"

"Really? You should have learned by now…"

"Yeah, and what is this Tally anyway?"

"Some people call it Judgment Day, or the Reckoning."

"Before the Closure, there is the Tally. The Shakri serves the Tally."

"The pest controllers of the universe, that's how the tales went, isn't it?"

"Wow. That's some seriously weird bedtime story," Amy muttered.

"You can talk. Wolf in your grandmother's nightdress?" The Doctor paused for a split second as Rose smirked, before continuing. "So, here you are, depositing slug pellets all over the Earth, made attractive so humans will collect them, hoping to find something beautiful inside. Because that's what they are. Not pests or plague, creatures of hope, forever building and reaching. Making mistakes, of course, every life form does. But, but they learn. And they strive for greater, and they achieve it. You want a tally. Put their achievements against their failings through the whole of time, I will back humanity against the Shakri every time."

"The Tally must be met. The second wave will be released. The human plague breeding and fighting. And when cornered, their rage to destroy. You're too late, Doctor. The Tally shall be met," the Shakri concluded before disappearing.

"He's gone?"

"He was never really here," Rose said. "Just the ship's automated interface."

"Exactly. Like a talking propaganda poster. We can stop the second wave. I can disconnect all the Shakri craft from their portals, leave them drifting in the darkspace. Ah, but all those people who were near the cubes, so many of them will have died…"

"I restarted one of your hearts," Amy pointed out.

"You'd need mass defibrillation," Rory countered.

"Of course. Ah, beautiful. But, Ponds, Ponds! We are going to go one better than that. The Shakri used the cubes to turn people's hearts off. Bingo! We're going to use them to turn them back on again."

"On it," Rose said, the golden energy once again glowing around her as she walked toward the ship's controls.

"What? No," the Doctor said, thinking of Jack. "Let me. I should be able to-"

"Trust me, Doctor. It won't be the same. I can control it," she assured him, inhaling deeply as she let the Bad Wolf take over her mind. "Creatures of hope, yeah?" He nodded in agreement as the energy pulsed from Rose into the computer system and another countdown began. "Thirty seconds," she said.

"Right. Ponds. There's going to be a terrible wave of energy ricocheting around here any second. Run," the Doctor ordered.

Turning Amy as they ran back to the wormhole, Rory couldn't help but smile. "I'm going to miss this…"

Just as the explosion hit, the Doctor, Amy, Rory and Rose landed back in the hospital corridor. Making their way back to the waiting area, they could see on the news that people around the world were waking back up. " _Emergency hospitals and field units are working at full capacity around the world, as millions of survivors of cardiac arrests are nursed back to health after an unprecedented night across the globe._ "

* * *

The Doctor looked around the table at the four people surrounding him. It had been a long time since he had a proper family, but that was the only word he could think of to describe them. He smiled at the questioning look Rose gave him as she reached over with her chopsticks to steal food out of his Chinese takeaway container. He playfully moved the box out of her reach, scowling as Amy reached over from his other side and grabbed some for herself. "Oi!"

Both of the girls laughed. "That's what you get!"

"Well, we'd better get going," he said, indicating himself and Rose. "Things to do, worlds to save, swings to... swing on. Look, I know, you both have lives here. Beautiful, messy lives. That is what makes you so fabulously human. You don't want to give them up. I understand.

"Actually, it's you they can't give up," Brian said. "And I don't think they should. Go with him. Go save every world you can find. Who else has that chance? Life will still be here."

"You could come, Brian," Rose offered.

He smiled. "Somebody's got to water the plants. Just bring them back safe."

* * *

Once everyone was back on the TARDIS, the group separated. Rory went to lie down, Amy to the kitchen, Rose to the library, and the Doctor under the console. A little while later, Amy returned to the control room with two mugs of tea. Settling herself so that her legs were hanging over the ledge, she offered one of them to the Doctor.

"So, I was wondering," Amy began as he sat beside her. "Why didn't they affect Rose?"

"What do you mean?"

"The cubes. Everyone in front of them when they opened had their heart stop, even you. Why not Rose?"

He looked at Amy, a half smile on his lips. "Rose Tyler is something the universe has never seen before. Something different, something utterly unique."

"I remember, you said. You promised me an explanation after the Daleks, with Jack. And I hate to say it, but I'm still waiting."

There was certainly no argument against that. Amy was right, he did promise her an explanation as to who Rose really was, her history with the Daleks, and now the Bad Wolf. He took a deep breath and dove in, telling his best friend the story of how over the course of having 3 different faces now he had met, loved, and believed he had lost Rose Tyler, all beginning with the word " _Run._ "


	25. Happiness

Maybe it was the way heartfelt way that he told her their story coupled with the fact that she was a budding writer who could appreciate such a turnaround in a tragic tale. Maybe it was how they always looked at each other when they thought nobody would see, although that had changed in recent months. Then again, it could have something to do with the fact that her husband was already good friends with the woman. Whatever it was though, Amy could no longer find it in herself to harbor any resentment toward Rose Tyler when it came to the Doctor and his negated relationship with River.

So when Amy was about to knock on Rose's door the next morning and was stopped short by the Doctor quietly exiting the room and nearly walking into her, she didn't have to fake the smile that crossed her face. Besides, at least he had the sense to look slightly uncomfortable at being caught. "Oh! Hello," he greeted her, blushing slightly.

"Morning," she grinned. "Your bowtie's undone, you know," she teased, unable to resist.

"Oh, shut-up."

Laughing as he stalked away, Amy continued on and knocked at Rose's door, ready to make peace with the woman she hoped would fully accept her as a friend.

* * *

"So where exactly are we going?" Rory asked as the Doctor did his usual dance around the center console.

"A planet called Midnight. Lovely. Haven't been for years, but I think it's time. Just a bit of rest and relaxation after a very taxing few months."

"And you're sure about that?" Rose asked, entering the control room with Amy.

"What?"

"The whole 'rest and relaxation' bit," Amy said. "We know you. We know how this works."

"And last time you were there…" Rose trailed off, seeing a shadow cross the Doctor's face as he sighed, no doubt remembering both the alien attack he encountered and Donna. "Sorry, didn't mean to bring her up." She rubbed his shoulders gently to help soothe the painful memories away.

"Who's that?" Rory asked.

"Donna," the Doctor sighed. "Donna Noble. She was brilliant, wasn't she Rose?"

Rose wrapped her arms around the Doctor's middle, hugging him from behind. "None of us would be here without her."

"What happened?"

"She had to forget. There was no way for her to survive knowing the truth."

"You protected her," Rose reassured him. "She saved countless galaxies, and you saved her. We should go see Wilf though, I think I owe him a laptop." Noticing the questioning looks on both Amy and Rory's faces, Rose explained. "Donna's grandfather. I might have gotten a little annoyed with his computer once upon a time..."

Now it was the Doctor's turn to question Rose. "When did you-"

"The night of the 27 planets and the Crucible, when I was trying to find you, actually right before I found you. I found Donna's family. That's how I knew about what happened to Harriet Jones."

"But we didn't see you..."

"No webcam."

"I'm sorry," Rory interjected. "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister?" Rose nodded. "Right. Carry on."

"A queen from ancient Egypt on a spaceship with dinosaurs and you don't bat an eye. But mention a recent PM..."

"Point taken."

* * *

As the Doctor piloted them into the vortex, Rose excused herself from the control room having volunteered to cook breakfast. It seemed a rather lame excuse, but it was something that she knew the Doctor would accept as probable. She also knew, thanks to her co-conspirator the TARDIS, that he would be kept nicely distracted when Amy and Rory joined her in the kitchen.

Sure enough, there was a minor flare-up under the time rotor that the Doctor needed to address. In order to get out of the way, Amy and Rory made their way over to Rose and were somewhat disappointed to find that there was, in fact, no food. "I thought you were cooking?" Rory asked.

Rose tossed him an apple. "Go get dressed, something nice, and meet me back here in 5 minutes. We don't have long…" Unsure what she had planned, but feeling rather excited at the prospect of doing something behind the Doctor's back for once, they both did as instructed. Rose grinned when they returned. "So, I have a present for you both - I know you've felt torn between lives recently, and this is something that I can do, but the Doctor can't know. Not yet, anyway. Okay?"

"Is it dangerous?"

"Do you trust me?" Rose countered, a golden glint forming behind her eyes.

Amy looked at Rory, who shrugged. "Geronimo."

Taking their hands in her own, Rose concentrated on allowing the Bad Wolf part of her to take over. Golden tendrils of time energy enveloped the three and the TARDIS dissolved from view as they quickly found themselves in a large foyer area, the golden light now fading.

"Where are we?" Rory asked, trying to mask the shock he felt.

" _When_  are we?" Amy added. "And how did we get here?"

Rose grinned, but remained silent, as she linked arms with each and led them through a set of ornate double-doors. A sea of people, some human and others not, appeared in front of them, all dressed in the same attire. Quickly ushering them past the crowd, Rose led them to a row of seats in the vast auditorium. She heaved a sigh of relief, "Just in time…"

"In time for what?"

Physically turning Amy's & Rory's heads toward the stage, Rose just smiled as the man at the podium spoke and was slowly joined by someone else on the stage.

"River Song, Doctorate in Archaeology."

Amy's had flew to her mouth just and Rory felt tears sting his eyes as they watched River walk stoically toward the Dean to accept her diploma. Rose immediately burst into applause and wild cheers for River's accomplishment, drawing the attention of the woman on the stage. She looked out to the audience, a wide grin appearing as her eyes landed on her parents and Rose in the crowd.

Holding back her own tears, River offered a silent thank you to Rose for this latest gift. Her parents were there to see her graduate from Luna University.

* * *

Oddly enough, it was Rory who sat basking in the sunroom of the Leisure Palace with Rose, enjoying the luxury amenities that the spa had to offer while the Doctor and Amy were up to who knows what. Rose had at first been reluctant to let the Doctor wander off on his own, but with Amy by his side she thought that he would be alright. Besides, although it might seem strange for she and Rory to be spending time together in this sort of environment, they were actually enjoying themselves.

"You know, I could get used to this," he said, sounding completely relaxed.

Rose giggled a bit, never having really spent any quality "girl time" with a man before. However, she figured he was probably better company than Amy would have been. "I know. We should do this more often."

"What do you think they're up to?"

"Probably arguing about something. Did you want to find them?"

Rory nodded, almost about to doze off, as one of the attendants approached with drinks. "No, I think I'm good here…"

The two clinked their glasses, toasting their ability to enjoy the peace while it lasted.

* * *

The Doctor and Amy were roaming through the shops available to guests on Midnight, on the hunt for something specific.

"Maybe if you said what you were looking for I could help," Amy grumbled.

"I told you, I'll know it when I see it." He continued to drag Amy in and out of various storefronts, finally doubling back to one that he had initially dismissed. "This is it."

Amy rolled her eyes but dutifully followed him inside, surprised by the interior of the shop given the nondescript storefront. She stared in awe as every surface seemed to glimmer, covered by various gemstones in every every color of the rainbow.

"May I help you?" the clerk asked as the pair approached the counter. "Something for the lady?"

The Doctor had been reaching into his pocket and was momentarily thrown by the question. "What, her? No!"

Amy smacked his shoulder. "Oi!"

Shaking his head, the Doctor pulled the small velvet box out of his pocket and set it on the counter. "I need to have this reset, with the design and stones in place."

The shop clerk looked at the ring within the box, a plain gold band with a pink pearl surrounded by a circle of smaller diamonds, unsure of whether it was worth his time. "You know we have many beautiful stones here that could-"

"No. The stones stay. It is a family heirloom."

"It looks like a flower," Amy commented, a thought occurring to her. "Doctor, is that…?"

"I hope so," he whispered, suddenly nervous. "Do you think she will-?"

"Of course," Amy assured him. "When?"

The Doctor shrugged in response, not wanting to admit out loud that before he was able to take this step toward his future with Rose he still had one more person to talk to: Dr. River Song.

* * *

Rose stepped out of the TARDIS and inhaled deeply. "Don't you just love the smell of a city?"

"Oh, yes. Nothing like exhaust fumes in the morning," Rory replied sarcastically as he followed her out.

"Shut-up," she told him, shoving him playfully aside so she could poke her head back through the door. "Are you two coming?"

"Yes, yes," the Doctor called back. "Amelia, come along!"

The Doctor couldn't remember a time that he had been happier. He had the woman that he loved and his best friends at his side. Joining Rose at the park entrance, he kissed the top of her head as he took her hand in his. Together they walked through the old stone and rod iron gates into an oasis in the middle of the busiest city on Earth: New York.


	26. The Angels Take Manhattan, Part 1

The Doctor and Amy sat back to back atop a large rock in Central Park leaning against each other, her focus on a newspaper and him with his nose in a book absentmindedly stroking Rose's hair as she lay with her head on his lap. Rory sat nearby, rummaging through the picnic basket that they had brought.

" _New York growled at my window, but I was ready for it. My stocking seams were straight, my lipstick was combat-ready, and I was packing cleavage that could fell an ox at 20 feet._ "

"Doctor, you're doing it again," Amy accused as Rose chuckled.

"I'm reading!"

"Out loud. Please, could you not?"

Shifting around, and causing Rose to sit up, the Doctor glared at Amy. "There's something different about you, isn't there?"

"What's the book?" Rory asked, trying to restore peace.

" _Melody Malone_. She's a private detective in old-town New York."

Amy rolled her eyes. "She's got ice in her heart and a kiss on her lips and a vulnerable side she keeps well-hidden."

"Oh, you've read it."

"No, you read it. Aloud. And then went 'Yowzah!'"

Rose smirked at him. "You know, only you could fancy someone in a book."

"I'm just reading," he insisted. "I just like the cover."

"Ooh!" Amy exclaimed. "Can we see the cover?"

"No. No. I'm busy." The Doctor pulled the book from her reach, only for Rose to grab it instead. She shook her head and displayed the cover for both Ponds to see.

Pouting at what he saw as Rose's betrayal, he turned back to Amy. "It's your hair. Is it your hair?"

"Oh, shut up. It's the glasses. I'm wearing reading glasses now. On my nose. See? There you go."

"I don't like them. They make your eyes look all liney."

"Doctor!" Rose hissed before swatting his shoulder. "Rude,  _again_!"

The Doctor shook his head and lifted the glasses up from Amy's face to look at her eyes. "No, actually. Sorry," he said, dropping the glasses back. "They're fine. Carry on."

Not wanting to be caught in the midst of this particular battle, Rory jumped to his feet. "Okay! I'm going to go and get us some more coffee. Who wants more coffee? Me too! I'll go!"

"Rory," Amy said, causing him to stop. "Do I have noticeable lines on my eyes now?"

"Yes," the Doctor answered just as Rory said "No." Rose simply facepalmed.

"You didn't look," she accused.

"I noticed them earlier. Didn't notice them. I specifically remember not noticing them."

"You walk among fire pits, centurion."

"Do I have to come over there?"

"You can, if you like."

"Well, we have company," he responded, kneeling down in front of her.

"I'll babysit," Rose snarked as the two kissed.

"Oh! Do you know, it is so humiliating when you do that," the Doctor whined, turning back to his book.

"You're one to talk," Rory fired back.

Rose ruffled the Doctor's hair and stood. "Coffee?"

Rory nodded and Amy giggled. "Coffee."

Leaving the Doctor and Amy to fend for themselves, the Bad Wolf and Last Centurion ventured off in search of caffeine.

"Can I have a go?" the Doctor asked, not waiting for Amy to respond before taking her glasses and putting them on. "Oh! Actually that is much better. That is exciting."

"Read to me?"

"I thought you didn't like my reading aloud."

"Shut up and read me a story. Just don't go 'Yowzah!'"

Laughing, the Doctor and Amy resumed their previous position of sitting back to back as the Doctor ripped out the last page of the book and put it in the picnic basket.

"Why'd you do that?"

"Oh, I always rip out the last page of a book. Then it doesn't have to end. I  _hate_  endings. Now, where were we? Ah, yes.  _As I crossed the street, I saw the thin guy and blonde girl, but they didn't see me. I guess that's how it began… I followed them for two more blocks before they turned and I could ask exactly what they were doing here. The skinny guy looked a little scared, so I gave him my best smile and my bluest eyes as he spoke_."

"And beware of the 'yowzah.' Do not, at this point, yowz." Ignoring Amy completely, the Doctor suddenly jumped up seemingly intrigued by something he had just read in the book. "Doctor? What did the skinny guy say?"

* * *

Rory and Rose walked back toward Central Park by way of the Plaza Hotel. "It is lovely here, isn't it?" she asked.

He smiled and nodded, unable to deny a certain magnetism in the City that Never Sleeps. "It does seem a bit magical," he agreed as they made their way toward the Bethesda Fountain. The park was fairly deserted, which was surprising given the beautiful day, but they didn't mind. The odd thing was the sound of giggling and scampering around them. "Did you hear that?"

Rose shrugged. "Yeah, probably some kids playing hide and seek or something." She led the way into the tunnel, still hearing the children but not seeing them. When the pair came out on the other side though, they stepped out into darkness, a familiar curly haired woman in front of them wearing a 1930s trench coat and fedora.

Rory looked from River to Rose and back again. "We just went to get coffees for the Doctor and Amy. Hello, River."

"Hello, Dad," she replied. "And," she began, smiling at Rose who was frantically shaking her head, her eyes wide. "Who's your friend?" River quickly recovered.

"Rose," she answered. "My name is Rose."

"Does Mummy know?" River asked, arching an eyebrow and playing along.

Rose smirked. "Where are we?"

"And how the hell did we get here?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. But you'll probably want to put your hands up," she informed them as a man came up behind them holding a gun, causing Rory to drop the coffees he was holding.

To her credit, Rose slowly set the two cups she was carrying on the ground. River thought it was to conceal the golden flecks that had started to appear being her eyes, which was smart. They didn't need that right now.

"Melody Malone?" another man asked.

Rose's head shot up, her eyes still glowing faintly. " _You're_  Melody?"

"Get in the car."

"What's going on?" Rory asked, climbing in after Rose but before his daughter.

* * *

The Doctor and Amy rushed back through the park, desperate to reach the TARDIS.

"What's River doing in a book? What're  _Rory and Rose_  doing in a book?"

"They went to get coffee. Pay attention."

"They went to get coffee and turned up in a book. How does that work?"

"I don't know! We're in New York," he spat, throwing open the TARDIS doors and running up to the console.

"Where did you get this book?"

"It was in my jacket."

"How did it get  _there_?"

"How does anything get there? I've given up asking. Date. Date. Does she mention a date? When is this happening?" It worried him not only that Rose and Rory had disappeared only to reappear in a book, but also that Rose was with River when he hadn't had the opportunity to speak with her yet.

"Uh - ooh! April 3, 1938," Amy interrupted after flipping through several pages.

"Keep reading," he commanded. "We need to know what's going on right now."

" _Melody turned to the two passengers in the back seat as the car moved through the dark streets. 'You didn't come here in the TARDIS, obviously.'_

_"'Why?' Rory asked._

_"'You couldn't have.'_ "

The Doctor appeared at Amy's shoulder causing her to gasp. "Couldn't have? What does she mean, 'couldn't have'?"

Amy continued reading. "' _This city's full of time distortions. Be impossible to land the TARDIS here. Like trying to land a plane in a blizzard. Even I couldn't do it.'_ "

"Even who couldn't do it?!" Oh, yes. The Doctor was offended now.

"Don't you two fall out. You have enough to deal with, and right now she's only in a book."

"Ha ha. 1938. Easy one." He quickly flipped the control to set the TARDIS in motion but it sparked and rocked, throwing Amy and the Doctor into the rails as it tried to materialize near the Brooklyn Bridge but was forced back out. Instead, an alarm sounded and a warning appeared on the monitor before landing in a cemetery.

"What was that?"

"1938. We just bounced off it."

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Amy picked the book back up and flipped to the correct page. " _'Well, how did you get here?' Rory asked._

" _'Vortex Manipulator,' River replied, showing it off and winking at the blonde woman. 'Less bulky than a TARDIS. A motorbike through traffic. So how did you both... Unless, Rose?'_ "

"What?" The Doctor looked over to Amy. "Unless Rose what?"

Amy realized in that moment that Rose still hasn't told the Doctor what she was capable of, that she had learned to harness the power of the Bad Wolf. She found this odd given that both had professed no more secrets, but then there must be a reason. So instead, she continued reading.

" _'No,' Rose replied. 'I'm not sure what it was.' Just then the car pulled through heavy rod iron gates and into a courtyard. Looking through the car window, Rory stared at the stone angels lining the roof of the building before them._

"The Weeping Angels!"

The Doctor pounded a fist against his forehead. "Of course! It makes sense."

"It makes  _what_?"

"That's what happened to Rose and Rory. That's what the Angels do. It's their preferred form of attack. They zap you back in time, let you live to death."

"Well, we've got a time machine. We can just go and get him."

"Well, tried that, if you've noticed, and we are back where we started, in 2012!"

"We didn't start in a graveyard. What are we doing here?"

"Don't know. Probably causally linked, somehow. Doesn't matter."

"Well, we're going to get there, somehow. We're in the rest of the book."

"In what?"

"Page 43. You're going to break something."

"I'm what?"

" _'Why do you have to break mine?' I asked the Doctor. He frowned and said, 'Because Amy read it in a book and, now, I have no choice.'_ "

The Doctor ran over to Amy, terrified and yelling for her to stop. Taking the book from her hands, he scolded her. "You can't read ahead. You mustn't and - and you can't do that."

"But we've already been reading it."

"Just the stuff that's happening now, in parallel with us. That's as far as we go."

"It could help us find Rory, find both of them."

"And if you read ahead and find that Rory dies? This isn't any old future, Amy, it's ours. Once we know what's coming, it's fixed. I'm going to break something because you told me that I'm going to do it. No choice now."

"Time can be rewritten."

The Doctor sighed and took her hand, leading her back to the TARDIS. "Not once you've read it. Once we know it's coming, it's written in stone."


	27. The Angels Take Manhattan, Part 2

After being escorted at gunpoint into the large home, Rory, Rose, and River were left standing at the foot of a staircase. Being as discreet as she could, Rose leaned toward River and breathed two words into the woman's ear, "Distract them."

Nodding almost imperceptibly, River pointed to a large Chinese vase in the hallway. "Ah, early Qin Dynasty, I'd say."

"Correct," came the impressed response from a man on the landing above them. "Are you an archaeologist as well as a detective?" When River didn't reply, he walked down the stairs to join his guests. "Early Qin, just as you say. You're very well-informed."

"You have no idea," she smirked. "But you, Mr. Grayle, you're very afraid. That's an awful lot of locks for one door." She nodded toward the front door which had no less than 4 locks on it.

Rose ignored most of the exchange, closing her eyes and concentrating with all that she had on reaching out to the TARDIS. She knew that the Doctor was doing whatever he could to get to them, she had felt it when the TARDIS had tried, and failed, to materialize in the city. She leaned heavily against Rory, who immediately wrapped a protective arm around her to keep her from falling. "River…" he called, concerned that Rose might be having some sort of fainting spell.

"She's fine," River replied, having noticed faint traces of the golden energy begin to form.

Unfortunately though, this brought Mr. Grayle's attention to both Rory and Rose for the first time since they arrived. Indicating the two of them, he commanded his henchmen to "Move the girl to the study and put him somewhere uncomfortable."

"With the babies, sir?"

Mr. Grayle grinned. "Yes. Why not? Give him to the babies."

As one man carried a seemingly unconscious Rose into the study, the other shoved Rory toward a back staircase where the only light came from the open door. Throwing him down the first few steps into what can only be a cellar, he informed Rory that the lights were out. "You'll last longer with these," he added, tossing a pack of matches after him before closing the door and leaving him in the dark.

"Hello?" Rory called out, hearing childish giggling and scampering around him. He lit one of the matches but didn't see anything. "Hello, is someone there?"

* * *

Heading into the room where Rose had been set on a sofa, River smirked as Rose winked at her. Turning her attention back to Grayle, she decided to press her luck and walked toward the curtains that were drawn. "Let's see... crime boss with a collecting fetish. Whatever you don't want anyone else to see has got to be your favorite. Or, possibly, your girlfriend." Opening the curtains, she revealed an Angel that was chained and manacled, poised to attack with it's face deformed. "So, girlfriend then."

Glancing back at Rose, who nodded, she opened the vortex manipulator and started typing.

"What are you doing?" Grayle demanded.

"Oh, you know, texting a boy..." she trailed off, fascinated as ever by the time energy that had started swirling above Rose, but turning her attention back to the Angel.

"These things are all over," he said, "but people don't seem to notice. It never moves while you're looking."

"Oh, I know how they work."

"So I understand. Melody Malone, the detective who investigates Angels." He watched River step closer to the chained Angel. "I wanted to know if it could feel pain."

"You realize it's screaming?" she accused, rounding on the man. "The others can hear. Is that why you need all the locks?"

In response, Grayle flicked the light off then on again. River had tried to cross the room to Rose in an attempt to block the light from Grayle's attention, but was prevented from moving by the Angel itself, her wrist in its hand.

"You're going to tell me all about these creatures. And you're going to do it quickly."

"The Angels are predators. They're deadly. What do you want with them?"

"I'm a collector. What collector could resist these? I'm only human."

"That's exactly what they're thinking," she replied, although she couldn't help but notice that the Angel's other arm was outstretched not toward Grayle, but Rose.

The Doctor felt as though his personal worlds were colliding in his absence. Rose and River were somehow together in 1938, but he couldn't get to them to explain everything. He stood at the console trying to get a lock on them, growing increasingly frustrated that the TARDIS wasn't cooperating. "Okay, landing a plane in a timey wimey blizzard. I could push through, but, if I'm off by a nanosecond, the engines will phase and I'll shatter the planet. I need landing lights."

"Landing lights?"

"Yes, I need a signal to lock on to. What did she say, early what-" the Doctor stopped mid-sentence as the TARDIS lights brightened and coordinates were set.

"Doctor?" Amy asked. "What's happening?" She could feel that they were moving through the vortex again, but it felt as though they were almost tethered to something, being reeled in.

"Oh, you beautiful creature," the Doctor beamed, stroking the console. "Landing lights. We have a signal and are locked on."

At that moment the lights in the house began to flicker and the building shook. "What's that?" Grayle asked, shaken. "What's happening? Is it an earthquake?"

River simply smiled, but Rose sat bolt upright as the sound of the TARDIS engines filled the room. The raw energy emanating from the Bad Wolf and the partially materializing TARDIS was enough to send Grayle flying into the hallway.

"Oh, you bad girl! You could burn New York," River winked Rose stuck her tongue out in response. "Mature too, I see."

"Do you mind? I'm trying to land the TARDIS remotely, you know. Now play nice... ish."

"Not exactly going anywhere, am I?" River muttered.

Just then they heard the TARDIS door fly open and Amy yelling for Rory as she ran upstairs. The Doctor, however, immediately caught sight of River in the study. His breath caught when he didn't see Rose, but he quickly pasted a smile on his face. "Sorry I'm late, honey. Traffic was hell. And don't worry, your friend here should be fine."

"Not if I can get loose."

The Doctor took in his surroundings, trying to find Rose who he knew had to be there somewhere. "So where are we now, Dr. Song? How's prison?" His attempt at conversation was lacking due to the distraction. He could feel Rose referring to his comment as rude in the back of his mind.

"Oh, I was pardoned ages ago. And it's "Professor" Song, to you."

"Pardoned?" He was definitely distracted now.

"Mmm! Turns out the person I killed never existed, in the first place. Apparently, there's no record of him. It's almost as if someone's gone around, deleting himself from every database in the universe."

Approaching River, the Doctor pulled out his sonic, oblivious to the fact that Rose was mimicking him from across the room. "Well, you did say I'd got too big."

River bit her lip, trying not to laugh. This little game of cat and mouse really needed to come to a head - they had work to do. "And, now, no one's ever heard of you. Didn't you used to be somebody?"

The Doctor absentmindedly scanned the Angel with his sonic. "She's holding you very tight."

"At least she didn't send me back in time."

"I doubt she's strong enough, but what is she-" he turned his head to see what the Angel was reaching for. That's when he noticed her, sitting on the sofa staring at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Hello."

"Rose," he said, relief flooding his mind. The Doctor looked from Rose to River and back again. Deciding that River wasn't really going anywhere, he rushed over to Rose's side. "Are you okay?" he asked gently, brushing her hair from her face and looking her in the eyes only to find the fading flecks of gold. That wasn't good - he knew that the time energy was a healing mechanism, a 'gift' of the Bad Wolf in her.

"I'm fine," Rose said quietly, building up some fake anger. "So, this is River Song, yeah?"

"In the flesh," River said, grinning wickedly. "Sorry, but he's never mentioned you. You are…?"

The Doctor rounded on River just as Amy entered the room. "What did you do to her?"

"Me?" River scoffed. "If you hadn't noticed, I'm the one in trouble here. Now, I need a hand back. So which is it going to be, are you going to break my wrist or hers? Oh, no. Really? Why do you have to break mine?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Because Amy read it in a book and, now, I have no choice." He glared at Amy, who had moved over to Rose. "You see?"

"What book?" River asked.

"Your book. Which you haven't written yet, so we can't read!"

Amy was trying to make sense of the situation she had walked in on. "But if River's going to write that book, she'd make it useful, yeah?"

"Well, I'll certainly try. But we can't read ahead. It's too dangerous."

"I know, but there must be something we can look at."

"What, a page of handy hints, previews, spoiler-free?"

"Chapter titles," Rose offered.

The Doctor, normally so careful, grinned and kissed her hair as had become second nature. He then realized what he did and pulled the book from his pocket, purposely avoiding looking at River. "He's in the cellar."

Amy jumped up, no longer caring about his drama. She simply wanted to find her husband. "Gimme," she commanded, pausing in the doorway to catch the sonic screwdriver that the Doctor tossed to her.

That's when it happened. Still looking at the book, the Doctor's face fell and he collapsed onto the sofa by Rose.

"Doctor? Doctor, what is it? What's wrong? Tell me." River pleaded.

"Doctor," Rose quietly implored, feeling guilty for suggesting the ruse in the first place. "Doctor what is it? Tell us." He passed the book to her and she skimmed the chapter titles, finally landing on the one he must have seen. "Amelia's Last Farewell," she breathed.

"Okay, I know that face," River said. "Calm down. Calm down!"

"No!"

"Talk to me! Doctor!" River begged, as he jumped up from and stormed over to her.

"No! You get your wrist out. You get your wrist out without breaking it."

"How?"

"I don't know. Just do it! Change the future!"

Rose stared at River, at a complete loss. "I'm sorry, I have to go-"

River nodded. "I'll figure this out. Just keep him from doing anything too stupid."

"Thank you," she whispered, rushing toward the cellar door after the Doctor and Amy. She arrived just in time to see the cherubs frozen in the beam of the sonic screwdriver. "Amy, no!" she yelled just as Amy screamed.

"They're Angels! Baby Angels," the Doctor added.

Rose moved toward the Angels, ignoring the Doctor as he tried to hold her back. "Look, there are matches."

"Did they get Rory?" Amy asked, frantic. "Where is he? Did they take him?"

"Yes, I think so, yes."

As Amy started back up the stairs, the beam of light now pointing ahead of her, the giggling and scampering began again. Feeling sick in the pit of her stomach, Rose rounded on the cherubs, her palm outstretched. A burst of golden light illuminated the cellar, the once broken chandelier now repaired. Glaring at the statues, she spoke. "They're not going anywhere." She then ran past the now stuttering Doctor to join Amy.

"But…  _what_?" The Doctor shook his head and ran up after the two women. They needed to find Rory. And he really didn't want to leave Rose alone with River.

The Doctor's confusion only increased as he entered the hallway only to find Amy sitting on the stairs between both River and Rose. "So is this what's going to happen?" she asked the others. "We just keep chasing him back in time and they keep pulling him further back."

"He isn't back in time," Rose assured her.

River nodded, looking at her tablet. "Rose is right. I'm reading a displacement, but there are no temporal markers. He's been moved in space, not in time, and it's not that far from here, by the look of it." She looked over and saw the Doctor lurking in the doorway. "Well, look who decided to join us."

"You got out. How did you get your wrist out without breaking it?"

"You asked. I did. Problem?"

"You just changed the future!" The Doctor felt giddy, he was so pleased by this new prospect.

"It's called 'marriage,' honey. Now, hush. I'm working."

She turned back to the tablet just as Rose jumped up and stalked outside. Amy stood to follow her, looking at the shocked faces on both River and the Doctor. "You two, figure whatever this is out. And find Rory!" she yelled over her shoulder, going to check on Rose.

"Touchy. Was it something I said?" River innocently, watching the Doctor lower himself onto the stair beside her, a stricken look on his face as he ran his hands nervously through his hair. "What?"

The Doctor grabbed the tablet from River, jostling her other hand in the process. She gasped in pain and pulled her bruised and swollen hand away from him. "It's nothing."

"Why did you lie to me?"

"Excuse me?" River scoffed. "Why did I lie to you?"

"What does that-"

"Sweetie, when one's in love with an ageless God who insists on the face of a 12-year-old, one does one's best to hide the damage. Especially when an equally ageless Goddess falls from the sky."

"River, I..." He trailed off at a loss for words, his face in his hands as the guilt piled up. He looked at her from the corner from of his eye and noticed the smirk on her face. "How long have you known about Rose?"

"A while," she admitted. "It wasn't that hard, I was studying you after all. Did you think I wouldn't stumble upon any accounts of 'Rose Tyler, Defender of Earth'?" They sat in heavy silence for a moment longer.

"It must hurt," the Doctor said, gently taking her injured hand in his. "Come here."

"Yes. The wrist is pretty bad, too." Just then she realized what he was doing, the golden glow of energy passing from his hands to hers. "No. No, stop that. Stop that! Stop it!"

"There you are," he smiled sadly. "How's that?"

Getting to her feet, River flexed her hand. "Well, let's see, shall we?" She then promptly slapped his face. "That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy. Nothing is gained by you being a sentimental idiot!"

"River!"

"No! You embarrass me!"

"River!" the Doctor called again, but she had already stormed outside.

* * *

The cool night air was exactly what Rose needed. Yes, she knew that River was playing her part, that River knew the truth about her marriage to the Doctor not being real. But knowing something to be true didn't make it any easier to hear. She wiped away an angry tear at the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Are you alright?" Amy asked quietly.

Rose nodded. "Yeah, fine. What about Rory? Any luck?" Amy shook her head. "I can feel him, so I know he's still nearby."

"How?" Amy choked out, stifling a sob.

"You know the energy I have, the time energy? Well, you've all got bits of it to. Just not in such high amounts. A wise idiot once called it 'void stuff.' Stuff from traveling in the TARDIS, through the void. I can sense it..."

"But if we all have it, how can you know it's him?"

"I know you all well enough to tell the difference. He's here, Amy. I promise."

River appeared in the courtyard, looking about ready to spit nails until she saw her mother. "Wherever he is, it's within a few blocks. Shall we steal the car?"

"What happened?" Rose asked, following River to the car when she saw the Doctor step outside rubbing his jaw with one hand while holding the tablet in the other.

"Never let him see the damage."

Amy shot an angry glance at the Doctor before putting a comforting arm around River's shoulder. "Hey..."

River shook her head. "And never, ever, let him see you age. He doesn't like endings." Neither Rose nor Amy could be 100% sure who she was referring to.

The Doctor watched the three women together, wondering how he had gotten to this point. Yes, it worried him to see so many points on his own timeline converge, but at the same time it felt right to have them all there. Almost as if the universe was righting itself, even if just for a moment. He knew that River's end was near, and he was ready with everything but the final puzzle piece. He just hoped that he would have the courage to put it into place.

Before he could contemplate this further though, the handheld finished its calculations. "Got it!" he yelled. "He's in a place called Winter Quay. The car, yes? Let's go."


	28. The Angels Take Manhattan, Part 3

Rory was used to being the 'Neville Longbottom' of their group, the one that everything always happened to. So when the baby Angels touched him in the cellar and he suddenly found himself standing on a street corner in front of a building called Winter Quay, he wasn't particularly surprised.

Unsure of what else to do, he decided to goinside on the off chance he might find a phone. Not seeing anything on the main level, he stepped into the lift that had just opened.

"Always a good sign," he muttered to himself as he made his way down the hallway and the electricity crackled, flickering on and off. Stopping at an open apartment door, he poked his head in and called quietly, "Hello?"

* * *

Rose's knuckles were nearly white from gripping the dashboard as River drove them through the city chasing after Rory. "Remind me never to get into another car with you driving, yeah?"

"Oh, come on, sweetie. Live a little!" She hit a sharp curve, coming to an abrupt stop in front of an old building. "Why would they send him here? Why not zap him back in time, like they normally do?"

"We'll know that when we know what this place is," the Doctor said, climbing out of the car after Amy. He stopped to help Rose out, who smiled gratefully. "Feeling okay?"

"Yeah, just didn't realize we were filming  _Top Gear: New York_."

"Oh, I do love that show," River grinned wickedly.

Amy was already halfway up the front steps of Winter Quay when she realized the others weren't behind her. "Oi! Focus!" she commanded, relieved when Rose led the pack after her. Together they reached the doors, which creaked open on their own. "Okay, creepy..." Regardless though, she marched onward, the first on the lift and the first off when it stopped on the third floor. "Rory!"

Rose nodded, squeezing Amy's hand. "He's close."

"Rory?" she called again, running down the hall toward an open door. "Rory!"

"Amy," Rory sighed, sweeping her into a hug as soon as she entered the room.

Rose and the Doctor had followed closely behind Amy, but for some reason River had hung back. "Doctor," she said."Look at this."

Both he and Rose turned to see what she was talking about and stared, shocked, at an Angel in the hallway that was smiling.

"Why's it doing that?" Rose asked. "Why's it smiling?"

Before answering, the Doctor looked down at the nameplate by the apartment door. It said  _R. Williams_. His eyes wide, he ran into the apartment shouting for Amy and Rory. "Get out of here. Don't look at anything. Don't touch anything."

Unfortunately though, Rose and River rushed in behind him, River bolting the door shut as Amy heard someone in the back bedroom. Pulling Rory with her, she crept into the room. "Who's that?"

There they saw an old man lying in the bed. There was something off about him, and yet he was achingly familiar. As they came into his view, he gasped and reached forward. "Amy," he said. "Amy, please..."

She slowly walked over to him and knelt beside him, closely examining his face. "Rory?" she breathed, turning back to her husband who was standing in the doorway with the Doctor, River, and Rose. "Rory, he's you."

Rory shook his head and turned away. He knew that something bad was about to happen and he didn't want to witness it.

Sure enough, he was right. The old man in the bed, the old Rory, took another shuddering gasp. "Amy!" he sighed again, seemingly content, before collapsing back onto the pillows, his breathing stopped.

"Someone, please, tell me what is going on," Rory begged.

"I'm sorry, Rory," the Doctor said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But you just died. This place is policed by Angels. Every time you try to escape, you get zapped back in time."

"So this place belongs to the Angels?" Amy asked. "They built it?"

"Displacing someone back in time creates time energy and that is what the Angels feed on. But, normally, it's a one-off, a hit-and-run. If they could keep hold of their victims, feed off their time energy over and over again..."

Rose was horror stricken. "This place is a farm, a battery farm."

The Doctor nodded and turned to River. "How many Angels in New York?"

"It's like they've taken over every statue in the city."

"Yeah, the Angels take Manhattan because they can. Because they've never had a food source like this one, the city that never sleeps."

Everyone looked around the room uneasily as a loud crashing sound could be heard outside. Rose felt as though she was going to be sick, but she had to warn him. "Rory, I think that they're coming for you…"

"What does that mean? What is going to happen to me? What is physically going to happen?"

"The Angels will come for you. They'll zap you back in time, to this very spot, 30, 40 years ago, and you will live out the rest of your life in that room, until you die in that bed."

Even at that statement, Rory found he was unable to think of himself. "And will Amy be there?"

"No," River answered, trying to be as gentle as she could.

Amy looked at the three time travelers, desperate for them to be wrong. "How do you know?"

"Because he was so pleased to see you again."

Rory thought about that for a moment before making up his mind that there was no way he was going to live out the rest of his life without Amy by his side. He hadn't waited 2,000 years for her for nothing. "Well, they haven't taken me yet. What if I just run? What if we just get the hell out of here? Then that never happens."

"It's already happened, Rory," Rose said quietly. "You've just witnessed your own future."

River pondered the statement for a moment, fairly confident that they had found the loophole required to save her father. "He's right."

"No, he isn't."

"If Rory got out, it would create a paradox."

"What is that?" Amy asked.

"This is the Angels' food source. The paradox poisons the well. It could kill them all. This whole place would literally unhappen."

"It would be almost impossible," the Doctor sighed.

Rose grinned. "It's the  _almost_ that counts. Who in this room right now  _isn't_  impossible?"

The Doctor really didn't appreciate it when they all ganged up against him. Yes, technically Rose being there was impossible. And Amy. And Rory. And River. Especially River. "But to create a paradox like that takes almost unimaginable power. What have we got? Eh? Tell me. Come on, what?"

Taking Rory's hand in her own, Amy looked the Doctor in the eye. "I won't let them take him. That's what we got."

"Rory," the Doctor began, "Even if you got out, you'd have to keep running for the rest of your life. They would be chasing you forever."

"Well, then, better get started," Amy curtly said, opening the front door to find an Angel waiting. "Husband, run!"

Rory stood frozen for a fraction of a second that felt like an eternity, making up his mind on what to do. From the corner of his eye he saw Rose nod once, no doubt in encouragement, and that was all it took. He nodded back before running for the door, pausing only to hug River and squeeze the Doctor's shoulder in farewell.

"I'm really not sure that this can work," the Doctor informed River and Rose.

"Shut up," River snapped.

Rose frowned. "Running is what we do, remember?" She took his hand in hers and gave him her tongue in teeth smile. "Now run!"

The Doctor smirked at what was a complete role reversal from their initial meeting, but trailed after her into the hall nonetheless. Unfortunately they were met by two Angels blocking their way. He pulled out his sonic in an attempt to keep the lights on, but it didn't help. Instead, the Angels moved closer, with more joining them to block the staircase.

"Over here!" River shouted, waving them toward the fire escape. The Doctor pulled Rose with him and helped both women through the window and onto the small metal ledge before following himself.

"Climb!"

* * *

Rory felt winded from running up several flights of stairs, but with Amy on his heels, he knew that there was no other choice. They had to figure out a way to outrun the Angels and survive the danger in this version of New York. He couldn't face a lifetime without her, so allowing the Angels to win simply wasn't an option.

When they reached the top of the stairs, the only option left was a door that apparently led out onto the roof. Rushing through after her husband, Amy closed it behind her wishing for the Doctor's sonic to lock it more securely. Before she could voice this thoughts, she skidded to a halt next to Rory. "Is that-?

"I always wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty," he said, looking at the newest Angel that was leaning over the edge of the building, its teeth bared. "I guess she got impatient." He quickly turned away and ran to the opposite ledge.

"What? What is it? What?" Amy demanded.

"Just keep your eyes on that," he instructed, looking over the side of the building.

"Is there a way down?"

"Uh...no. But there's a way out." Taking a deep breath, he climbed up onto the ledge and struggled to maintain his balance.

"What are you doing?" She paused, waiting for a response that never came. "Rory, what are you doing?" She took her eyes off of the statue, needing to see him. "Rory. Stop it!" Walking slowly over to him, she wiped a tear from her eye. "You'll die."

"Yeah, twice. In the same building on the same night. Who else could do that?"

"Just come down, please."

"This is the right thing to do. This will work. If I die now, it's a paradox, right? The paradox will kill the Angels. Tell me I'm wrong. Go on, please, because I am really scared." Now it was his turn to wait for a response that would never come. "Great. The  _one_   _time_  you can't manage it."

Amy stared at her husband through tears, watching the man that she loved about to jump to his death terrified her. She couldn't help but reach out and grab hold of him when he briefly lost his balance. "Oh, God…"

"Amy. I'm going to need a little help here."

"Just stop it!"

"No, just think it through. This will work. This will kill the Angels."

"It will kill you, too."

"Will it?! River said that this place would be erased from time, never exist. If this place never existed, what did I fall off?"

"You think you'll just come back to life?"

"When don't I?"

Amy couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Rory!" she pleaded.

"And, anyway, what else is there? Dying of old age downstairs, never seeing you again. Amy, please. If you love me, then trust me and push."

"I can't."

"You have to!"

"Could you? If it was me, could you do it?"

His eyes softened as he looked her square in the eyes. "To save you, I could do anything."

"Prove it," she demanded, climbing up onto the ledge beside him.

"No, I can't take you, too."

"You said we'd come back to life. "Money where your mouth is" time." Before he could protest, she covered his mouth with her hand. "Shut. Up." She placed his hands on her waist. "Together. Or not at all."

"What the hell are you doing?!" the Doctor yelled, jumping up onto the roof from the fire escape and running over to Amy and Rory, Rose and River just behind him.

"Changing the future," Amy replied, never once taking her eyes off of Rory's. "It's called 'marriage.'" And together, Amy and Rory allowed themselves to fall over the ledge, keeping their arms wrapped around one another as the Doctor screamed desperately from the rooftop.

"Amy! AMY!" His grief was palpable, and Rose rushed to his side. He refused any comfort though, instead keeping his eyes his best friend as she fell to her death in her husband's arms.

"Rose," River called quietly, calling her attention to fluctuations of light that had just appeared on the rooftop. "Doctor," she said a bit louder. "What's happening?"

The Doctor looked over, his grief suddenly replaced by hope. "The paradox, it's working. The paradox is working!" He hugged both Rose and River to him, barely concealing a giddy laugh.

* * *

Rory and Amy both jolted upright at the same moment, only to find themselves sitting on a patch of grass in the cemetery from earlier. "Woah," Amy said.

"Where are we?" Rory asked.

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS behind them, proud of them both. "Back where we started! You collapsed the timeline. The paradox worked. We all pinged back where we belong."

"What, in a graveyard?" Rory asked, confused this time.

"This happened last time," Amy explained. "Why always here?"

"Does it matter? We got lucky! We could've blown New York off the planet. I can't ever take the TARDIS back there. The timelines are too scrambled." He sighed, hugging the Ponds to him. "Oh, I could've lost you both. Don't  _ever_  do that again."

"What did  _we_  do?"

"Yeah," Rose chimed in, walking over to them and hugging Rory. "They fixed it, solved the problem."

"I was talking to myself," he replied before heading back toward the TARDIS where River was standing by the door, a bucket in her hands.

"It could do with a repaint, you know," River scolded, taking a rag from the bucket and wiping down the outside of the ship.

"I've been busy."

"So, Rory and Amy, then."

"Yes, I know."

"And Rose."

He sighed, not wanting to hurt her. "I know," he said quietly.

"I'm just saying, they're going to get terribly bored, hanging round here all day."

The Doctor looked up at her, pleasantly surprised. That was not what he was expecting at all.

Rose made her way back to the TARDIS, helping River to wipe it down.

"Doctor," Rory began as he and Amy walked toward them as well. "Next time, can we just go to the pub?"

"Ha! I want to go to the pub right now. Are there videogames there? I love videogames."

As Rose and the Doctor stepped into the TARDIS arguing about who would get a higher score on Pac-Man, "Rose, obviously!" River interjected, laughing as she followed them in with Amy just behind her. Rory paused on his way as something caught his eye in the cemetery: a gravestone with his name engraved on it.

"Amy!" he called. "Come see this."

"What?" She stepped back out of the TARDIS to see what he was pointing to.

"There's a gravestone here for someone with the same name as me."

She quickly made her way back over to him, but didn't see the Angel until it was too late and Rory had disappeared. "Doctor!" she screamed.

The Doctor, River and Rose all came rushing out to see what was wrong. This time it was Rose who hung back, remaining by the ship, while the Doctor and River ran over.

"Where the hell did that come from?" River yelled.

The Doctor quickly scanned the Angel with the sonic. " It's a survivor. Very weak, but keep your eyes on it."

"Where's Rory?"

Walking forward a step, the Doctor followed the direction that the Angel was pointing. It was the gravestone that Rory had seen moments ago, engraved with Aged 82. "I'm sorry, Amelia. I'm so, so sorry."

"No. No, we can just go and get him in the TARDIS. One more paradox."

"Would rip New York apart and I-"

"No, that's not true. I don't believe you."

River felt the tears streaming down her face, but for once she didn't care. "Mother, it's true."

Rose watched from the TARDIS in horror as Amy stepped closer to the Angel, trying to manage her own sobs.

"That gravestone, Rory's, there's room for one more name, isn't there?"

"What are you talking about? Back away from the Angel. Come back to the TARDIS! We'll figure something out!"

"The Angel, would it send me back to the same time, to him?"

"I don't know. Nobody knows."

"But it's my best shot, yeah?"

"No!"

"Doctor, shut up!" Rose yelled. Perhaps more than anyone, Rose understood what Amy was feeling, why she had to do what she was doing. She had suffered alone for so long, and fought with everything she had to get back to the Doctor all of those years ago only to be separated from him again. She couldn't bare to think of anyone else suffering like that, not when there was an option available to fix it. "Yes, Amy. Yes, it is!"

"Amy," the Doctor begged.

"Well, then, I just have to blink, right?"

"No!"

"It'll be fine. I know it will. I'll - I'll be with him, like I should be. Me and Rory, together. Melody," she called, keeping her eyes on the Angel but reaching back for her daughter's hand.

"Stop it! Just - just stop it!" The Doctor broke down as River moved forward taking Amy's hand in her own.

"Melody, you look after them. And you be a good girl and you look after him, look after both of them."

River kissed her mother's palm, silent tears streaking down her face.

"You are creating a fixed time. I will never be able to see you again."

"I'll be fine. I'll be with him."

The Doctor was crying now, he couldn't stand the thought of losing Amy too. He had lost so many others over the course of his many years. "Amy, please. Just - Come back into the TARDIS. Come on, Pond, please," he begged one last time.

"Raggedy man," she sighed, turning to look at him. "Goodbye."

With those words of farewell, Amy disappeared and the Doctor completely broke down. "No!" came the gut-wrenching scream as the gravestone changed, a new engraving added to the bottom of it: And his Loving Wife Amelia Williams, Aged 87.

Rose was by his side in an instant, wanting to comfort him as River remained frozen, her eyes trained on the Angel. She wrapped her arms around him, murmuring consoling words into his ear as he sobbed in her arms never looking away from the place where Amy last stood. They stayed there for several minutes, each playing their part, until Rose was able to coax him up into a standing position and, with River's help, back into the TARDIS.

Once safely inside with the Doctor sitting down, River immediately took to the controls.

"River," he began. "They were your parents. Sorry. I didn't even think."

"It doesn't matter," she quipped.

"Of course it matters."

"No, it doesn't. That's fine. What matters is this," she turned to Rose. "Don't you dare let him travel alone."

"Never," Rose breathed. "But you could travel with us."

"Whenever and wherever you want, but not all the time. One psychopath per TARDIS, don't you think?" she smirked before turning her attention back to the Doctor. "Okay, this book I've got to write, _Melody Malone_. I presume I send it to Amy to get it published?"

"Yes. Yes."

River took a deep breath, almost as if she was steeling herself for the next part of the equation. "I'll tell her to write an afterword. For you. Maybe you'll listen to  _her_." She then walked out of the room, leaving the Doctor and Rose alone.

"The last page," the Doctor suddenly said, his eyes lighting up. Rose looked at him, confused. "I tore it out. It's back in the park!"

Just like that, they were off. Rose chased the Doctor through Central Park, weaving through crowds of people, as he ran back to the rock where they had had their picnic earlier in the day. Reaching the basket that was still sitting where they left it, he fell to his knees, grabbed the piece of paper and began to read, savoring every word from his dearest friend as Rose stood to the side, trying to give him some level of privacy as he read Amy's final words to him.

_Afterword, by Amelia Williams._

_Hello, old friend._

_And here we are, you and me, on the last page. By the time you read these words, Rory and I will be long gone. So know that we lived well and were very happy. And, above all else, know that we will love you always. Sometimes I do worry about you, though. I think, once we're gone, you won't be coming back here for a while and you might want to be alone, which you should never be. Don't be alone, Doctor. Instead, ask the question that you've been putting off. I know that you'll be pleased with the answer._

_And then, once that's sorted, do one more thing for me. There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her. Tell her a story. Tell her that, if she's patient, the days are coming that she'll never forget. Tell her she'll go to sea and fight pirates. She'll fall in love with a man who'll wait 2,000 years to keep her safe. Tell her she'll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived and save a whale in outer space. Tell her this is the story of Amelia Pond - and this is how it ends._

Wiping the tears from his eyes, the Doctor reached into his jacket pocket. He knew that Amelia was right, that he shouldn't be alone. That there was only one woman that he needed by his side through it all.

And that is how he came to find himself kneeling in front of Rose Tyler on a rock in the middle of Central Park, a small velvet box in his outstretched hand and his hearts on his sleeve for the world to see.

 


	29. Questions & Answers & Questions

Tears stung Rose's eyes as she looked at the broken man kneeling before her. She wanted nothing more than to say yes, to once again be the Doctor's wife. But the Doctor had always been rash when it came making important decisions. And if he was only asking out of fear or grief... "Are- are you sure? Now?"

"I have never been more sure of anything," he replied.

"But after..." she trailed off, really noticing the state of the velvet box for the first time. The edges were well worn, nearly frayed, making it seem as if he had been carrying it for a while. And that was nothing,  _nothing_ , compared to the ring which looked hauntingly familiar and caused her breath to catch in her throat. She recognized the floral stone design instantly; how many times had she been caught sneaking that ring on her fingers in her childhood? "Where did you get that?"

His eyes softened and he smiled as his thoughts turned to Jackie. "Well, I might have gone to see Jackie."

Before Rose could even consider this new revelation, an unfamiliar voice broke through their bubble followed by a series of catcalls. "Say yes!"

The Doctor grinned at the strangers that had gathered around them. "What do you say, Rose Tyler? Will you have me,  _this_  me, here in this universe, forever?"

"Of course," she breathed. Rose brushed her fingers along his temple before cupping his cheek in her hand. "Every you, everywhere, every time."

The crowd of onlookers, which had grown considerably in the last few minutes, burst into applause and cheered loudly as they watched the seemingly young couple kiss. Feeling rather dazed, Rose straightened the Doctor's bowtie before lacing her fingers through his and following his lead as they ran away from the crowd, hand-in-hand.

* * *

Rose knew that the Doctor's happiness would be short lived, that he would soon allow the grief of losing Amy and Rory to overtake him. Especially now that they had done as Amy asked and visited her eight year old self one last time. Before he lost himself though, there was one more trip that they had to take. She just had to figure out how to make him see reason, that it was necessary.

"She was an adorable child," Rose said, wrapping her arms around the Doctor and hugging him. "Thank you for taking me with you."

The Doctor smiled sadly, resting his forehead against hers. "Amy would have wanted you there. Who knows, maybe she even remembered that you were, on some level."

Rose nodded, the corner of her mouth twitching up into a half smile. "Doctor," she began, not looking forward to having this conversation. "I think- I think it's time."

"Time for what?"

Rose stepped back from him, moving toward the console as she produced a familiar looking tool from her back pocket and set it on the railing. "Do you think you have one more in you? One more goodbye?"

The Doctor looked from Rose to the older sonic screwdriver that she had set down and instantly understood. "Why? Why does it have to be now?"

"Because I know you, I know us. We'll keep running from it, hoping it will never happen."

"Would that be so bad?" He said it so quietly that Rose could barely hear him.

Once again Rose wrapped her arms around him. "My love," she sighed into his chest as he nuzzled into her hair, "It has to happen, and soon. You know that without River in the Library certain important events will never happen. All of our lives from that point on will have been for naught."

"But her parents, Rose..."

The pleading tone almost broke her, but Rose knew enough to stand her ground. "I know, but that timing is just for us. She's already been in touch, already written the book. Who knows how long there even is before she's leading that expedition and reaches out to you and Donna? She needs to know things before its too late," Rose finished quietly.

The Doctor gasped, the meaning of her words sinking in. "I can't tell her that," he insisted. "I didn't even tell her when I went through with the false wedding."

"Nor do you have to," Rose replied quietly. "It's me. It always was." The Doctor jerked his head back and looked Rose in the eyes. "Ever the paradox, me. Yeah?"

"It isn't your secret to tell," the Doctor said, a certain edge to his voice.

"Maybe not, but one of us has to, and we both know that you won't. You could have told her ages ago, in that aborted timeline, making the marriage real. But you didn't. Why?"

The Doctor dropped his arms to his side and started pacing. "I had to tell her about the Teselecta. She had to know-"

"You could have done both."

"It wasn't the right time!"

"Nor will it ever be!" Rose shouted back. "Don't you understand? She has to know, otherwise what will she say to gain your trust in the Library? You know I'm right... If you don't want to face this, then fine. I'll go on my own."

The Doctor stared at Rose as she began to glow with the golden time energy. "Rose, what are you-" His eyes widened as she disappeared. "Doing?" he finished lamely. "What the  _hell_  was that?!"

* * *

Rose let herself into the office and angrily slammed the door behind her, catching the attention of the woman behind the desk.

"What did he do now?" River asked, looking up from her book and smirking. When Rose didn't answer but instead let out a frustrated growl, River simply shook her head and pushed her chair back. "Well, come on then. Time for a drink."

Smiling gratefully, Rose took River's outstretched hand and together they were transported from the professor's office to a much more appropriate setting: a bar.

"How long has it been?" asked River as she sipped her scotch. "It can't have been that long..."

"Only hours. We just left an eight year old Amelia in her bed."

"So he asked then?"

Rose held out her left hand in response. "He did. I wasn't sure, given the timing, but..."

"Mother can be quite convincing, even from beyond." River smiled to herself. "Besides, he did go to a lot of trouble, bending all sorts of rules, to get that for you."

Rose nodded. "It was my grandmother's. I wish I could have gone with him to see mum though."

"Don't worry, from what I heard, Jackie gave him a proper slapping when she realized who he was and that you weren't there."

"That's something, at least," Rose smirked, remembering the first time she had witnessed her mother slap the Doctor. "I just miss her, I miss all of them."

"Tell me about it, sweetie."

Rose looked over at River, suddenly ashamed. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking..."

"I know, and it's fine. Really. But trust me on this: you will get your closure."

"What do you mean?"

River shook her head. "Spoilers."

The two women stayed at the bar for several more rounds, amazingly comfortable with one another's company. Rose was very pleased with how far they had come since their initial meeting, thanks to the Bad Wolf. She had harbored so much animosity for this woman after John told her what had happened in the Library, but only now did she fully understand it all. It really was her. Even when given the exact opportunity to fulfill their apparent destiny the Doctor couldn't bring himself to do it. Surely he realized what that meant as well?

Just as they were about to order another round of drinks, they heard it: the sound of the TARDIS engines materializing nearby.

"Oh, you are in trouble, aren't you?" River said snidely, as they watched the Doctor glare around the crowded establishment looking for them.

Rose scoffed. "Oncoming Storm? Slight drizzle, more like." She rolled her eyes before turning to face the Doctor and smiling sweetly. "Fancy a drink?"

* * *

"There you are," Rose said, relieved to have finally found him. She was surprised that the TARDIS had kept her from him, but then again, the Doctor was hers first and Rose's second. Rose felt the appreciative hum in the back of her mind that was the ship's acknowledgement, but they both knew that he could easily be headed to a very dark place.

"Sorry," he replied, looking up from his spot on the floor.

Rose kicked off her shoes, rolled up her jeans, and lowered herself next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder as she dipped her feet in the pool. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked quietly.

"What?" he sighed.

"Them. River. Me.  _Us_. Take your pick."

"What's to discuss? It happened. Amy and Rory are gone. River could be gone any day now. And you kept more secrets from me." he said flatly.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before she peered at him over her shoulder, unsure that she'd ever seen him so deep in thought. She sighed and decided to do what anyone would in this sort of situation: she splashed him.

"Oi!" He wiped the water from his face and shot her a nasty glance. "What's that for?"

"Just making sure you're still with me," she said, giving him her tongue-in-tooth smile.

The Doctor snorted, wresting a giggle from Rose. "Well, if that's how to want to play it," he said, wrapping his arms around Rose. She realized what he intended to do a split second before he actually did it, her eyes wide and screaming "No!" just as he pushed her into the water.

Rose surfaced and spun around to face the Doctor, shaking her head at the smug look on his face. "What?" he asked innocently, abruptly realizing his mistake. As he attempted to scramble back from the pool's edge, Rose grabbed hold of his ankle. "Oh, no, you don't," she said, reaching up and grabbing his braces and pulling him forward with a splash and a scream.

"You're going to regret doing that," he warned, treading water in the center of the pool. "This was my favorite bowtie."

"You'll have to catch me first," she taunted, swimming away from him.

* * *

"Wasn't there something that you wanted to talk about?" the Doctor asked, his eyes half closed as he lay beside Rose, completely relaxed and running his hand up and down the curve of her side absentmindedly.

"Did I?" she sighed. "I don't recall… something must've distracted me." Rose felt him smirk into her hair as he pulled her tighter against him. "You know, you can't always just distract me with-" The Doctor cut her sentence short with what started as a seemingly innocent kiss but quickly escalated into another, albeit enjoyable, diversion.

Panting slightly, Rose once again collapsed beside the Doctor. "Okay, that was a bit of a surprise."

"Respiratory bypass and superior physiology, you know."

"Hardly fair."

"You'll get used to it."

Before Rose could respond, she was brought back to reality by the sound of her mobile. She leaned over the Doctor and reached toward their pile of wet clothes, amazed - but not entirely surprised - that the phone had even survived its brief swim, and nearly dropped it once she looked at the caller ID. "That's not possible…" she breathed.

Instantly alert, the Doctor sat up. "What is it? Who is it?"

Shaking like a leaf, Rose accepted the call and held the phone to her ear. "Mum?"

Reflexively the Doctor grabbed a nearby towel and draped it over himself, half expecting Jackie Tyler to suddenly appear in the TARDIS with them. Parallel universe or not, it wouldn't have surprised him; he well remembered what that woman was capable of.

"Rose?" a strange man's voice responded. "Rose, is that really you?"

"Who is this?" she whispered, her heart racing in her chest.

"Rose, it's me. It's Tony."


	30. Family Ties

Tony. Her little brother, Tony Tyler, was alive, safe and sound in this universe. And grown. The voice on the other end of the phone did not in the slightest way resemble the small boy that Rose remembered from her life in Pete's World. She pondered this new revelation, pacing the console room like a madwoman, trying to consider all of the potential implications and coming up blank.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked, literally for the 10th time. "Rose, please stop."

"But how? How is it possible that he's here?"

His eyes full of concern, the Doctor quickly abandoned the console and crossed over to her, pulling her into a tight embrace. "I don't know," he whispered into her hair. "But I promise you this, we will figure it out. Together."

Rose looked up at him, this man that had been as complete stranger and yet was without a doubt  _her_  Doctor, and nodded. She was scared to speak again, unable or unwilling to voice the question that had abruptly entered her mind: if Tony was here and grown, what did that mean for their parents?

* * *

Tony took a deep breath and braced himself for the second life-changing event that he had planned for the day. It had been so hard, waiting to call Rose. He had kept Jackie's mobile for that very purpose, knowing that it would work and he'd be able to reach his sister when the time was right. Fortunately he had been raised by extremely patient people who also understood the mechanics of time travel and why certain things couldn't happen until certain times.

And that brought his thoughts full circle, to the reason that he was standing poised to knock on a bright blue door.

* * *

Brian slowly made his way through Amy and Rory's house, watering the plants as he went. Despite the fact that he gave them his blessing to go and travel with the Doctor and Rose, he still missed them terribly and couldn't help but notice how empty the house felt without them. As he was about to go to the kitchen to make some tea, a knock at the front door diverted him.

"Can I help you?" he asked the older gentleman at the door.

"Mr. Brian Williams?" the man asked, his accent a strange hybrid of English and American.

"Yes. How did you know I was here? This isn't my house."

The man pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket and held it out for Brian. "This is for you."

"I don't understand," Brian cautiously said, seeing that it was simply addressed to 'Dad.'

"You should read it," the stranger insisted. "I'll wait." He smiled slightly and walked into the house, past Brian, taking in every inch of his surroundings as he went.

Somewhat bemused, Brian followed the man into the lounge and sat on the sofa to read the letter from Rory.

_Dear Dad._

_This is the difficult bit. If I've got this right, you're reading this letter a week after we left in the TARDIS. The thing is, we're not coming back. We're alive and well and stuck in New York 50 years before I was born. We can't come home again. I won't ever see you again and it breaks my heart._

Brian gasped and looked toward the other man, who abruptly stood to leave the room. He seemed to understand that he needed privacy.

_I'm so sorry, Dad._

_I thought about this for years, and I realized there was one thing I could do: I could write to you. Tell you everything about how we lived, how, despite it all, we were happy._

_But before I do, I need you to know, you are the best dad any son could have had, and for all the times I drove you mad and you drove me mad, and all the times I snapped at you, I'm sorry. I miss everything about you, especially our awkward hugs._

_I bought a trowel. We have a small yard. I garden. But one more important bit of business: the man who delivered the letter, Anthony, be nice to him 'cause he's your grandson._

_We finally adopted in 1946. Anthony Brian Tyler Williams. He can tell you everything. He'll have the family albums and I realize having a grandson who is older than you is way beyond weird, but I'm sorry. I love you, Dad. I miss you._

Brian blinked at the pages in front of him. The Doctor lied to him. His son and daughter-in-law were gone, never to return. He had a grandson. A grandson who was several years older than him.

Somehow, Brian found himself standing and walking back into the hall where Anthony, his grandson, was patiently waiting.

His hand outstretched, Tony smiled at Brian. "How d'you do, sir?"

Brian simply shook his head and pulled the man into a hug. After a moment, the two separated and Brian really looked at the man standing before him. "Anthony?"

"Tony, actually," he smiled. "I know, it's a lot to take in. And this is only the beginning."

* * *

Rose smoothed her hair for what the Doctor counted as the hundredth time as they stood at the TARDIS doors, about to step outside. Or, he was about to step outside. Rose kept finding excuses to delay. Finally unable to stand still any longer, the Doctor took her hand in one of his and tilted her chin up with the other. "You're ready," he said softly.

"But what if-"

"I promise, everything will be fine."

Rose lowered her eyes and nodded, taking another deep breath before squaring her shoulders and reaching for the door with her free hand. The Doctor, in turn, lifted the hand that was still entwined with his to his lips as he followed her out of the ship and onto the bustling London street.

What neither of them expected was to see Brian walking toward them with another, older, gentleman in tow. The Doctor's hearts broke all over again at the sight of Rory's father, and now it was Rose's turn to give him a reassuring hand squeeze.

"Brian, I-" he began, only to become distracted by the other man who was now gaping openly at Rose. There was something familiar about him, something that the Doctor couldn't place.

The object of his attention either didn't notice or care. Instead she engulfed Brian in a hug. "I am so, so sorry," she said. "You have to know that we did everything that we could..."

Brian patted Rose on the back before stepping back and wiping a tear from his eye. "I know," he told her. "And they were happy."

"How could you know that?" the Doctor asked.

"A letter. Rory wrote a letter that was delivered today by... By my grandson." Brian gestured to the other man.

"By your  _what_?" The Doctor was stunned.

Rose, however, narrowed her eyes and really looked at the other man before them. He was still staring at her as well, as if seeing something, or some _one_ , for the first time in years.

"Rose," he stated, sounding surprisingly timid as he lowered his gaze and nervously bit the tip of his thumb in an incredibly familiar childish way, atypical of someone his age.

"T- Tony?" Rose's mind was once again going a million miles a minute. Was this possible? Her baby brother, standing in front of her but with his life behind him while hers stretched seemingly endlessly ahead? She knew that she would have missed his growing up, but to see him like this... And when he looked... "You look exactly like Dad," she whispered, choosing to accept this new development in her life and throwing her arms around her brother.

Tony was only too happy to respond in kind, sweeping Rose up into a hug and spinning her around on the spot. "God, you are a sight for sore eyes!"

It hadn't taken long for the Doctor to accept that Rose had returned to his universe as a result of the cracks. However, there was no logical reason that he could think of as to why or how Tony would have crossed over. So, the Doctor cleared his throat and nodded toward the stunned Brian, and Tony set a laughing Rose back down. "Perhaps we should move this into the TARDIS?"

Following the Doctor's gaze, Tony approached Brian slowly. "Are you okay? I know, it really is a lot more than just what Dad said in the letter."

Rose looked from Tony to Brian, trying to figure out why their father would have also written him a letter. Finally, it occurred to her that Brian had referred to Tony as his grandson. "Wait, you mean Rory? Like, Rory Rory?  _Our Ponds_  Rory?"

The Doctor couldn't  _not_  smile, both at the fact that Rose saw them as an 'our' and that she had so fully accepted the Ponds as hers. Given everything that was going on, he was even willing to overlook that she hadn't also asked about Amy. For now.

What he wasn't so sure about was the fact that both Brian and Tony instantly corrected her with a "Williams," in unison. Rose, however, simply responded with a huge grin, linking her arm through Tony's and leading the way back to the TARDIS. Questions about the why and how could wait. For now, Rose had her brother back.


	31. Background Information

Tony stared in awe at the Police Box that he had heard about for his entire life. He could hardly believe that he was about to actually enter the mythical TARDIS, something he had dreamed about since Rose, John, and Jackie had first told him about it when he was almost too small to remember and then became even more real upon hearing the stories of his parents' adventures. He followed the Doctor and Rose inside, Brian just behind him, and felt like a kid in a candy store. "It really is..." he trailed off.

"Bigger on the inside?" the Doctor prompted. "That's because-"

"It's another dimension," Tony finished, still grinning. He felt as though his whole life had led up to this moment. "I know, I remember."

The Doctor looked a bit deflated and Rose rubbed his shoulders supportively, stifling a giggle. "We know, that's your favorite bit..."

"Never mind that I heard all about it from Rose, mum, John, mom, and dad. It's just amazing to actually be here, to see her." He ran a hand along the center console, and the TARDIS lights blinked in approval.

"She likes you," Rose smiled. "John always told you she would."

"So did mom - er - Amy," Tony replied, somewhat awkwardly.

"Sorry, but who's John?" Brian wondered aloud.

The Doctor smiled sadly. "He was me, sort of. Well, technically my right hand. But still me."

Rose rolled her eyes. "It's a long story," she said. "One of many I'm sure we'll discuss today. How about some tea while we work through the sagas?"

* * *

Brian sat quietly in an armchair while Rose and Tony had settled themselves on a sofa in the library, steaming mugs of tea and cookies on the table in front of them. The Doctor paced the room, unable to settle down as Tony began to explain how he had come to be in this universe and, more specifically, 1940s New York.

"Honestly, even when mom died, we still weren't 100% on how I got here," Tony insisted. "It had to be the Angels though."

"Given the specific timing, that makes the most sense," Rose agreed. "But how did they get to Pete's world? I thought all of the cracks had closed after I crossed back through?" She looked to the Doctor, who had paused mid-step to contemplate her question.

He nodded somewhat absentmindedly before resuming his pacing, his hands folded together in front of his mouth. "They should have, yes."

"What cracks?" Brian asked.

Before the Doctor could jump in with a long and needlessly technical explanation, Tony spoke. "There were cracks throughout the fabric of this universe, including in mom's house in Leadworth. They could erase people and things from existence, although maybe not entirely. We think they might have allowed passage between parallel worlds as well."

"What?!" The Doctor's head shot up. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, Rose is here, for one thing. And after years of talking about this at length with mom, dad, and River-"

"You know River?"

Tony looked confused for a moment. "Of course! She actually helped to arrange the adoption..."

Rose wiped a tear from her eye and gave the Doctor a significant look. He sighed and nodded. "I know," he whispered.

"Well, I don't," Brian piped in, starting to feel rather annoyed. In the past few hours, he had learned that he had not only lost both his son and Amy, but he had a grandson that was older than he was and apparently related to Rose? Never mind the additional cast of characters that they were talking about: John, River, and  _Angels_? "Now can someone please tell me what happened to my son!"

The other three all turned to Brian, similar looks of shock mingled with sadness on their faces. Rose recovered first though, thinking of how confusing this all must be for him. After all, he had only learned the truth about the Doctor a short while ago.

With that in mind, Rose began to tell the tale of how the Angels once took Manhattan for their own sinister purposes. Although it obviously pained them, both the Doctor and Tony helped to fill in the details that Rose either missed or simply didn't know. By the end of the story, there wasn't a dry eye between them. Even the TARDIS felt their loss, her lights dimmed in sorrow.

After several moments of silence, Brian once again spoke.

"If- if they died so many years ago, why wait? Why not come to me sooner?" He turned to Tony, his eyes imploring.

"Time travel," the Doctor said before Tony could respond. "It's a tricky and dangerous thing. If Tony came before any of it happened, then he would have created a paradox and everything could have been destroyed."

"So Rory would still be alive?"

The Doctor sighed. "It isn't that simple, Brian. The better question though is-"

"Why today?" the Doctor and Rose asked in unison.

Her mouth twitched up in a small smile as Tony reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone. "I was told to wait, that it couldn't be before they day they disappeared, of course." The Doctor nodded, encouraging him to continue. "But then River said that there would be a sign that would assure me beyond a doubt that it was time. And, as always, she was right."

Rose and Brian looked confused as Tony pulled up the New York Times app on his phone. The Doctor, however, shook his head. "She is  _not_  always right," he muttered.

"Rude," Rose chided quietly, mostly a reflex at this point.

Tony smirked, momentarily transported back to his childhood when he witnessed similar exchanges between Rose and John. "Regardless," Tony continued, "I saw this photo in the paper and knew that it was what I had been waiting for. It was time for me hop the next flight to Heathrow." He turned the phone so that Rose and Brian could see the image on the small screen.

"But that's you," Brian said, looking from Rose to the Doctor, confused. Rose blushed, her hand flying to her mouth as the Doctor rushed forward, snatching the phone from Tony's grasp.

Tony shook his head. "Rude," he stated, winking at Rose. The Doctor ignored this jibe, focusing instead on the phone in his hand.

Sure enough, there were two photographs of them with the short article, a blog post really, which was a fluff piece on the romantic appeal of New York - the first photo was of him kneeling before Rose in Central Park, the engagement ring in his hand, and the second of their kiss after she said yes, her arms wrapped around his neck with his holding her tightly to him as the crowd cheered. He smiled at the memory, still fresh in his mind, and kissed Rose on the top of her head.

"Of course," the Doctor agreed. "You would have to make sure that all of the events played out as they were supposed to." He rested his hands on Rose's shoulders and looked down at her. "We needed to finish the book, to read the afterword that River promised."

"Not getting sentimental on me now, are you?" a familiar voice taunted from the library doorway. Tony and Rose both turned their heads to the door, the same grin on both their faces. "Well now, that is eerie," the new arrival laughed and pointed at the siblings. "If there was ever any doubt, that's genetics at work right there." She smiled once again at everyone. "Hello sweeties."


	32. Ancient History

"I still don't understand," Brian began, shaking his head. "I get the time travel bit, but how is Tony Rose's little brother when he looks to be her grandfather!"

"Hey!" Tony shouted, offended, causing both Rose and River to laugh. Even the Doctor cracked a smile, appreciating the irony of being the oldest in the room with (quite possibly) the youngest face.

"The truth is, Tony was born in 2008 to my mum and dad, Jackie and Pete Tyler," Rose told Brian. "We were on a parallel world, in another London, somewhere that the Doctor and I had landed by mistake, once upon a time..." The Doctor gently squeezed her shoulder as she instinctively placed her hand on top of his. "My dad died in this world when I was only a baby. But in that other world, he lived. He and mum were together, but I didn't exist. It sounds weird, I know, but I was a complete stranger to my dad."

"They had  _a_  Rose," the Doctor corrected her, somewhat in jest.

"Oi!" Rose huffed, smacking his hand. "Not funny."

Tony looked from his sister to the Doctor. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"She was cute!"

"She was a  _yorkie_ ," Rose spat. She still resented the fact that the people who she thought of as her parents, even though she knew that they weren't really, had named their dog Rose.

Tony and River both stifled a laugh and Rose tactfully ignored them, continuing to tell Brian the story of their first adventure in Pete's World; how she and the Doctor went undercover and about the Cybermen. She told them how the other Jackie had died and that Mickey had decided to stay even when they were able to go home to this universe. She then went on to tell how she and her actual mother Jackie had later been saved from the Void by Pete, only to become trapped on the parallel world following the Battle of Canary Wharf.

"I read about that," River said. "Although most of the accounts are somewhat unreliable. Then again, I suppose everything with the Pandorica and the TARDIS might have impacted that as well."

The Doctor rolled his eyes before fully considering her words. He never really gave much thought to the full impact that his resetting the universe might have had on past events, after all, they were in the past. He had wondered why Amy and Rory seemed to have no memory of the Daleks, specifically with what happened with the 27 planets, but he just dismissed it as having to do with the crack in Amy's wall. Besides, the only change that mattered to him was that he got his Rose back, and for that he was eternally grateful.

But had he inadvertently changed the course of his own history? He didn't feel as though he had; his timelines still appeared to be in place, and Rose and Jack still seemed to remember the events as they had originally taken place; surely others did as well?  _No matter_ , he decided. _If the world chose to forget the Daleks and Cybermen for now, so be it._

He focused his attention back to Rose, who was explaining about how Pete's World ran ahead, time moving faster there, and the dimension cannon she had used to find him again. After covering the events of the Crucible and the 27 planets, she stopped talking. The Doctor could feel her tense up and instantly knew that in her head she was back on that damn Norwegian beach.

Tony sensed the change in her as well. "You know, Rose," he started. "I don't remember much from when you first came back with John, but I do remember that I was so excited to have you home. You and John always told the best stories..." He smiled wistfully, and the Doctor nodded his approval as Rose's mouth quirked up in a small smile.

"He did, didn't he?"

"Quite the looker too," River added.

Now it was the Doctor's turn to be offended. "Oi!"

"Oh, hush," she chided. "You've got your scatterbrained professor look, and he had that hair. Isn't that right, Rose?"

"Lord, that hair! What I wouldn't give to muss it one-"

"I've got hair!"

"Yes, love, you do. And it's very..."

"Floppy," River finished. "It suits you. However, it isn't the same..."

"You've never even met him, I mean, me!"

"Maybe not  _yet_..."

"Oh, shut up."

Brian cleared his throat, growing impatient again. This explanation was much more in depth than he had initially thought, not that he expected it to be a simple one. However he really wanted to move things along rather than traveling down some other family's Memory Lane. "I'm sorry, but who the bloody hell are you?" he demanded, rounding on River. "And what does any of this have to do with Rory and Amy?!"

She, in turn, instantly sobered up and felt tears sting her eyes as her grandfather yelled at them. Rose's heart broke at the look on her face, but Tony was on his feet and engulfing his other sister ( _That's a strange thought!_ ) in a supportive hug.

"It's fine," River whispered. "I'm  _fine_." She quickly wiped her eyes and forced a smile before turning back to the rest of their group. "Brian's right. We should move this along." She moved to sit in Tony's now vacated seat next to Brian, only she turned so she was looking at the Doctor. "The Byzantium."

"What about it?"

"Think. Do you remember what we did? What happened to the Angels?"

The Doctor looked at River, confused. Of course he remembered, for all intents and purposes he fed them to the crack. The crack that led to another universe... "Pete's World," he breathed.

River nodded. "You know I was studying them, trying to find any patterns that I could. And that Angel, the lone survivor in New York that took moth- Amy and Rory," she caught herself. "She was there. She survived centuries more and was there."

"And I sent her through the crack," the Doctor said, horrorstruck. "It was me. I banished all of them. It's my fault that she was there, that she took you, Tony, from your world." He turned to Rose and Tony now, grief once again radiating from his features. "I'm so, so sorry."

* * *

"Can I ask you something?" the Doctor asked Tony later that evening, the two of them alone in the console room. Brian had gone to lie down, the day's events taking its toll, and River and Rose were off lord knows where in the TARDIS.

"What's that?"

"What happened? What happened to him?"

Tony could see the pain flit across the Doctor's face, and knew that he was almost scared of the answer. He knew that the Doctor never intended to see Rose again, that he thought he was doing the right thing leaving her with her family and the metacrisis Doctor on Pete's World. He also knew that Rose would never be able to answer that question for him

"He died, just after the Angels came," Tony replied. "He saved Rose, sacrificed himself, after the Angels first arrived."

"What d'you mean?"

Tony sighed. "I was kind of little at the time, ya know. I remember that he and Rose were investigating the Angels though. Just after the wedding, that's when they started appearing. They never said anything to me about it, but I was hiding and heard him talking to dad - to Pete. He knew that he was going to die, that his human body couldn't handle his Time Lord consciousness, despite having grown from him - from  _you_  - directly. He wanted to warn Pete about the Angels and what they did before it was too late though.

"John said that the Angels fed off of time energy, that they'd be after him and Rose above all others, possibly even the TARDIS coral. Of course, I didn't really understand everything he was saying. It wasn't until after talking through it all with mom, dad, and River that I started to piece more of it together."

The Doctor shook his head. "So what happened?"

"Like I said, he and Rose were investigating the Angels. Jackie and Pete begged her to stay, but you know her. That wasn't gonna happen. So she went with him. They left the coral in the house with us, and went to see what they could find. I always liked the coral, it was-" he stopped suddenly when he saw the Doctor's face. "Right, sorry. They were being attacked. He saved her, from the Angels. She blinked, not realizing that he was looking elsewhere. He managed to block her from the Angel's grasp, only to be killed by it himself.

"It didn't transport him though, it probably realized that he didn't have any time left to feed off of. Instead, it crushed him trying to get to Rose. Right in front of her, before any backup could arrive. Rose watched him die, and couldn't look away or it would get her too."

The Doctor could see it all in his head, playing like a movie in his mind's eye. Rose watching his clone die in the grasp of a stone Angel. Yelling for John, for him, for her Doctor to come back to her. And John telling her with his last breath not that he loved her, but instead instructing her not to blink, despite the fact that this was the last thing he'd ever want her to witness... In any world.


	33. Love Above All

Rose quietly walked up to River, who was standing in the doorway of her parents' room, the room where Brian was now resting.

"You should tell him," she said quietly.

"I don't think I have it in me. He's lost so much, and you saw how hard all of this was for him. I don't want to add to that." River smiled sadly, watching as her grandfather rolled over in his sleep.

"You're his family though."

"And how much time have I got left?" She turned to look at Rose, nodding when she saw the other woman's features harden. "Exactly. I know it's coming, just not sure when. Why give him someone else to mourn? He's already lost so much..."

Rose couldn't think of a response to that. River was right, sometimes it was necessary to sacrifice yourself to protect those that you loved. Knowing something and accepting it though were two completely different things. "Yeah," she whispered. "Well, you've got us. You both have."

"Thank you," River whispered, reaching over and squeezing Rose's hand with her own.

* * *

Tony remained in awe of the TARDIS, it was so much more than the stories he had been told as a child. He was simply enjoying himself, meandering through various corridors and never knowing what the next door may reveal. If he was honest with himself, it was the most fun he had had since- Well, best not to go there. The point was that he finally made his way onto the TARDIS and he had his family with him. Even the Doctor was family, very nearly twice over. He was his brother-in-law once, twice if you counted the fake wedding, and soon would be yet again.

 _Speak of the devil_ , he thought to himself as he opened another door and found the Doctor actually laughing while performing the amazingly domestic activity of washing up. Rose was by his side, drying the dishes as he finished with them, telling him a story of some sort. Tony cleared his throat, trying to be subtle with his interruption of this oddly intimate moment.

"Hey there," Rose grinned, tossing a dishtowel his way. "Give us a hand."

Tony rolled his eyes overdramatically, but happily did as she asked. "So, have you set a date yet?"

"A date? No idea… She usually just takes us where we need to go," the Doctor replied, holding a teacup in front of his face and scratching off a rogue tealeaf.

Rose huffed a sigh. "I think he meant to get married, yeah?"

"What? Oh. Oh! No, do we need to?" He was genuinely confused. "Is that something that you people do?"

"'You people,'" Rose repeated, raising an eyebrow. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"You lot. Humans," the Doctor explained, his attention still focused on the delicate china cup in his hands.

"Yeah, generally. Think back. Remember when you  _literally_  crashed Amy and Rory's wedding?"

"26 June, 2010. Of course I remember!" he replied, turning to Tony. "Reset the universe that day, brought Rose back too," he added, winking at her.

"Well, that whole event was planned.  _In advance_."

* * *

The Doctor stood on the fringe of the cafe, watching the others sitting and laughing at the table as they caught up on old stories. Rose, Tony, Brian, Jack, and the new additions Mickey and Martha Smith. He knew that Rose wouldn't be able to resist the urge to contact Mickey for long. What he hadn't anticipated was that Tony would already know the Smiths, that he had tracked them down years earlier in New York.

"If mother, dad, and Sarah Jane were here it would practically be an episode of  _This is Your Life_ ," River said, threading her arm through his.

"Still missing Donna though," he quietly replied.

"Ah, yes. The illusive Donna Noble. Wish I could have met that one."

"You will soon," he said, without thinking. River quirked an eyebrow and the Doctor mentally slapped himself. "Spoilers."

River gave him a sad smile as she followed his gaze to Rose. "You know, don't you?"

"How can she not resent me for that? It's my fault, all of it."

"She loves you."

"But if it wasn't for me, he could still be-"

"You know that's not true. And you can't blame yourself for something you didn't foresee. She doesn't."

"How do you know?"

"If she did, none of us would be here now. None of this," she gestured to the table, "would be happening. She wouldn't have said yes, and you would be without this family."

The Doctor considered River's words, and it occurred to him that this was not the first time most of these people were referred to as his family. Yes, there were both new faces as well as faces that were missing, but nonetheless he was a part of every one of them just as they were a part of him. Every person at that table had in some way helped him to become the man he currently was, and none moreso than the blonde woman currently giving him a tongue-in-teeth smile.

He couldn't help but smile back, thanking every deity above that he had Rose back in his life. With that in mind, he and River rejoined the group at the table, the Doctor entwining his fingers with Rose's as soon as he sat beside her, the wide grin still on his face.

* * *

It had been a long night, but nevertheless Rose was sad to see it end. Mickey and Martha had to get back to her parents' to check on their little one, Jack and River had disappeared to heaven knows where. The Doctor had parked the TARDIS on the street in front of the Ponds' house and it was now time to say goodbye to Tony and Brian.

Tears filled her eyes as she hugged her brother tightly, almost unwilling to let go. Tony smiled and shook his head. "Hey, there's no need for that. I'm not going anywhere, young lady."

Rose swatted at him halfheartedly while mumbling something about "Being stupid."

"I promise," he said with complete sincerity. "I will see you in the morning. Unless the Doctor screws up and you end up in Rio instead."

A giggle escaped Rose's lips as the Doctor looked in their direction suspiciously from where he was saying farewell to Brian. The Tylers both gave him an innocent smile that confirmed the fact that they had been talking about him.

Once all of their goodbyes were said and assurances of a morning appearance made, the Doctor and Rose slowly walked back to the TARDIS.

"It was really great seeing everyone again," Rose said, her head resting on the Doctor's shoulder. "And I can't believe that Mickey and Martha were in town... I guess I missed him more than I thought."

The Doctor squeezed Rose closer to him and kissed the top of her head. "I know, I missed them too. Even Mickey the Idiot."

"Oi! That's my oldest mate, yeah?"

"And here I was thinking I was your oldest-"

"Shut up," she laughed before assaulting his lips with her own.

The Doctor responded enthusiastically, pressing himself against Rose whose back was now against the TARDIS doors. Her hands tugged at his hair while he struggled with the TARDIS key. Rose whined, annoyed by his slight distraction, and snapped her fingers. The door swung open, causing the pair to topple to the floor.

"Doctor," Rose breathed, trying to keep her wits about her as the Doctor kissed his way from her jaw to her collarbone. She could feel him smile into her skin, and she held him to her, building her resolve. "Doctor," she repeated, louder this time.

"Mmmm, yes?" he replied, nuzzling her chest while his hand trailed down her body.

"Theta Sigma," she warned.

The Doctor raised his head at that. She never used  _that_  name for him. "What? Is something wrong?"

Rose smiled at the frustrated look on his face. "Sorry, love. Not tonight."

"Really?" He rolled off of her and wiped his face with both off his hands. "Are you okay?"

Rose slowly got to her feet and offered their Doctor a hand up. "I'm fine,  _really_."

"Then what...?"

"I was thinking, maybe we should wait. You know, until after the wedding."

"Wait? Wait for what?"

"None of  _that_ ," she said gesturing to the spot on the control room floor that they had just vacated.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow in response. "Rose, that hardly seems fair. We've already done  _that._  Why," he kissed her neck, "Stop," he kissed her earlobe, "Now?" he finished, kissing her lips.

Rose felt herself starting to melt into the Doctor, which was not part of her plan. She managed to extracate herself from his embrace. "Nice try, but no."

"But Rose," he whined, attempting to pull her back to him.

Rose shook her head and moved to the other side of the center console. "Think of it this way: it'll be that much better later, after having waited, yeah?" She gave him her tongue-in-teeth smile, knowing that he'd give in.

"How's tomorrow sound?"

"For what?"

"To get married," the Doctor replied, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

Rose laughed and rolled her eyes.  _Men, always there same no matter the species_. "Sorry, bit busy. Maybe next Tuesday?"


	34. Living Memories

It had been a Thursday, five Saturdays, two fantastic Friday nights, three Mondays, and an incredibly boring Sunday, but somehow they had finally managed to arrive at next Tuesday. The Doctor could hardly believe his good fortune: today was the day he would marry Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf and Defender of Earth. He never would have dared allow to dream that this day would be possible when he first took her hand in his all those centuries ago. And yet, here they were. Sort of.

"I still don't understand why you won't let me into my TARDIS to see Rose!" the Doctor whined.

"Because it's bad luck," Martha repeated for the millionth time. "You're just as thick as Mickey..."

"Oi! That's just stupid. You do realize that I may have already seen her today in another time stream though, right?"

"Sweetie, listen to me," River said, painfully patiently. "It might be a silly little Earth superstition to you, but billions of people believe in it. Including Rose."

"But-"

"Shut up."

Martha laughed, intrigued by this new woman. Doctor River Song was obviously a force to be reckoned with, and Martha approved. Just as she was about to congratulate River on silencing the Doctor, the sound of a baby crying came in over the baby monitor. She groaned and headed toward the stairs, knowing that she had less than a minute before the other baby woke as well. Before she had made it two steps though, Brian appeared with a baby swaddled in his arms.

"I believe this little one belongs to you?" he smiled, gently passing the baby to Martha.

The Doctor stopped sulking once he saw the baby. "May I?"

Martha looked nervously from the Doctor to River to Brian and back again. "Are... Are you sure?"

"What?!" he squawked, highly offended. "I'll have you know I'm very good with babies. Brilliant in fact. I even speak baby. Isn't that right, River?"

A tight smile crossed River's face and she nodded. "Of course, sweetie."

"Oi! I was excellent with you as a baby. And with Rose. Well, other than the Reapers. But that was entirely her doing, not mine..."

"Sorry," Brian said. "Did you just say you knew both River and Rose as babies?"

"Yes, of course. But only for a bit. Keep up, Brian!"

* * *

Rose stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom on the TARDIS flanked by her brother, Jack, and Mickey, hardly able to believe her eyes. Tears began to cloud her vision as she reached a hand behind her, relieved when Tony clasped it in his own.

"You look beautiful, Rosie," Jack said, a wide grin on his face.

"It's still not the posh look mum wanted though..."

Tony smirked and squeezed her hand. "Mum would tell you the same thing. Beautiful."

"There's no way that Jackie could possible be disappointed," Mickey agreed.

"Thank you," Rose said, pasting a smile on her face. "Hard to believe we're all here, yeah? Me and my Best Men."

Tony laughed at that. "Now you're starting to sound more like Mom than Jackie," he teased.

"Wouldn't it be amazing if she and Rory were here? For you and the Doctor, I mean."

"I know. And they are... In spirit."

Jack could tell that the siblings needed a few minutes alone. He quickly kissed Rose on the cheek, smiled wickedly, and gestured for Mickey to follow him. "How about we see what trouble those kids of yours are getting into?"

"What? They've got their mum, they're fine."

Jack rolled his eyes and pushed Mickey toward the door. "See you both in a bit."

Rose giggled at the confused look on Mickey's face. "See ya." She turned back to the mirror and took a deep breath, making eye contact with Tony in the reflection. "What?"

"I have something for you," Tony said nervously, reaching into his pocket. "A letter."

"A letter for me? From who?"

Before Tony could answer, there was a knock at the door and River let herself in. "Oh, good. Just in time then."

"You know about this?"

Tony smiled, Pete's smile. "River made it happen." He handed an envelope to Rose who looked at it quizzically. "It's from mum and dad, that is, Jackie and Pete."

Rose paled, holding the faded envelope like the treasured artifact that it was. "But how-"

"Oh, you know me. Always managing the impossible with my motorbike through traffic. Besides, I owed you. Consider it part of your wedding present."

"Closure," Rose whispered, remembering that River had promised her just that. She immediately pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. At least wait til you've read it. No telling what Jackie might have had to say..." Now taking Tony by the hand, River led him to the door. "Come along, brother. We'll be just outside."

Rose sat down on the edge of her bed, hoping not to wrinkle the delicate dress she was wearing. With shaking hands, she turned the envelope over and traced her name that was written on it in her mother's writing. "Oh, mum," she sighed, already reaching for a tissue.

Very carefully, she opened the envelope and pulled out the folded paper. It even smelled faintly of Jackie's perfume.

_My Darling Rose,_

_I don't even know where to begin, other than to say that I hope you're happy. Your dad and I know how hard it was for you after... Well, you remember._

_I always knew that you'd find the Doctor again, and sure enough, this River Song confirmed that. Strange one, she is! Anyway, she actually unlocked a memory that he had hidden away - proof that you had found each other and are together, right there in my head! He really shouldn't be messing with people's minds like that._

Rose paused, unsure what Jackie was talking about. What memory had the Doctor hidden from her?

_Anyhow, River also told us that you found Tony. I can't express to you what a relief hearing that was. Losing both of you was almost too much for your father and I to take. We made it though, after everything I guess we really are just made of strong stuff. River helped as well, not only with telling us about you both, but with the Weeping Angels. Why can't we just be out of harms reach? If it's not one monster, does it really have to be another?_

_Sorry, but really. The point is we know that you are marrying the Doctor today and couldn't be happier. Oh, sweetheart, I wish I could be there! But that's okay. And now I'm crying. I was there the first time, and honestly, he was much better looking then. At least the bow tie should be appropriate today!_

_Yes, happy! There we are. Really. Your father and I love you and your brother so much, and even though we may not be there physically, just know that I am thinking of you at this very moment._

_Go on, live your life amongst the stars in that ridiculous blue box. Be happy, save worlds, but please don't give me any three-headed alien grandchildren. No matter what world I am on, I don't think I'll be able to handle that._

_Your father and I send all of our love._

_~Mum_

* * *

The Doctor was starting to feel a bit antsy waiting for everyone to gather in the TARDIS so they could finally leave for the wedding. He knew that Rose was safely hidden in her room with Tony and the surprise additions of Sarah Jane and her son, Luke. Brian was helping Martha gather all of the twins' things from the house while Mickey got them settled into a nursery he never realized the TARDIS had.

"No sign of her," Jack said as he entered the TARDIS. "Wow, you do clean up nice though!" He added, taking in the Doctor's full morning dress.

"Thanks," the Doctor replied as he pulled up a scanner on the console in a final attempt to locate River. "If this doesn't work, we're just going to have to go without her and she can meet us."

"Whatever you say, Doc."

"Little help, please," Martha called from the door. Jack rushed over to help her and Brian with the babies' things.

"Why do they need that much stuff? I have stuff," the Doctor pointed out.

"You have alien stuff. They like earth stuff. Now point me in the direction of my children, please."

Just then the scanner went off and the Doctor groaned, his eyes wide. "Jack, have you got this? I've got to get River."

"Yeah, sure, no prob-" The Doctor rushed out the TARDIS doors before Jack finished speaking. "-lem."

Once out on the street, the Doctor turned right, took the next left and then another right before catching sight of River opening the TARDIS door and stepping inside. He rushed after her, only slightly caught off guard by what greeted him.

"The light is fine," River insisted. "I don't know what you're talking-"

"No, River! Wrong TARDIS! I'm parked 'round back and we need to meet-," the Doctor said, stopping himself as he sees a smiling, younger version of himself on the stairs. "Right. The younger version."

"Two of you!" River exclaimed, a coy smile on her face. "The mind races, does it not?"

"Come on, we'll be late," the Doctor insisted, growing nervous. He didn't want to inadvertently reveal too much to his younger self, particularly the bit about marrying Rose,and River seemed to be enjoying this far too much.

"We're heading to the Singing Towers of Darillium," she bragged, heading for the doors. "After promising for ages he's finally been convinced to go."

At her words, the Doctor and his younger self exchanged a pained look as she walked back outside.

It was the younger Doctor that broke the silence though. "The first time we met her in the library, when she..."

"Died, yes..."

"She said that the last time she saw us was at Darillium. Is that now?"

The Doctor smiled sadly. "Spoilers. Good luck tonight."

"You too."

"Yeah." He headed toward the door and chanced a glance back at his younger self, almost ready to give him a hint of the good that was waiting for him just around the bend. Fortunately, before he could say anything though, he saw a younger River step into the room. Smiling to himself, he walked out of the TARDIS and closed the door behind him, more ready than ever to face his future.


	35. Handfasting on Darillium

"I knew that I wasn't crazy and someone else was on the TARDIS with you," River said as they walked back to the proper TARDIS. "You could have said."

"No, I couldn't, and you know it," the Doctor replied. "There were actually three of you though."

"You are a naughty one, aren't you?"

"You're the one who kept popping on board," he chided her. "Now if you don't mind?" He held the TARDIS door open for her.

River stopped short of stepping inside. "He hadn't found her yet, Rose I mean. He was so happy to see me at first," she said sadly. "Funny how things change."

The Doctor grabbed River's arm and turned her to face him. "I am always happy to see you. Never doubt that."

River smiled, a true smile that reached her eyes despite her next words. "I know. But this is it, isn't it? The last time I'll see any of you."

"Why do you-"

"I'm not stupid. I saw his face, your face, when I said where we were going. And that's okay. This will be a fantastic day, the perfect memory. So, please, don't hurt for my sake. Let this be the happy day that it should be and know that I wouldn't change a thing.

"I love you, you idiot. And I love Rose, too. You have an amazing future ahead of you. Enjoy every second of it." She reached up and straightened his bowtie. "Now I think that we have stalled long enough. Let's get you married, alright?"

The Doctor smiled. "Thank you."

* * *

Dusk had only barely set in on the planet Darillium and countless stars were starting to appear in the sky as the Towers began singing their soft song. Rose could just hear the beautiful music from where she stood in the control room of the TARDIS, once again with her Best Men.

"It's not too late," Mickey offered. "If you changed your mind, we'd all get it and I'm sure we could fly her back home..."

Rose giggled, which was Mickey's intention. "Shut it. Now get out there so I can make my grand entrance." She hugged her oldest friend tightly before shoving him toward the door.

Mickey laughed as well. "Watch it!" He turned to Jack before walking outside. "Coming, Captain Cheesecake?"

"Right behind you," Jack grinned. He also hugged Rose. "See you in a few, gorgeous. Love you."

"Love you too," she whispered back before letting him go.

Once the two men left, it was Tony's turn to face Rose. "And then there were two."

Rose grasped Tony's hand in both of her own. "This is the right thing, yeah? Not too soon, too fast?"

"Rose," Tony began. "You have been waiting for this day since he first took your hand. You know it, I know it, and he knows it. My entire life I have known that Rose Tyler and the Doctor were meant to be together. So don't make my life a lie, okay?" Tony grinned as his sister did the same. "'Atta girl! Now let's make an honest woman of you."

* * *

The Doctor nervously smoothed the lapels of his jacket again as Sarah Jane patted his boutineer into place. "Nervous?" she asked.

"My palms are sweaty. That's not normal. Is that normal? How can that be normal?"

"You'll be fine," she assured him as River took her place at the Doctor's side.

"Showtime," River said, nodding to the officiant, Madame Vastra.

The Silurian woman cleared her throat and gestured for everyone to stand. Her gaze swept over the gathered group, lingering momentarily on her wife who shared a small smile with her. She then nudged the Doctor so that he faced out as well.

His breath caught in his throat and he could gave sworn that both of his hearts stopped when he first saw Rose come around the edge of the hill on her brother's arm. She wore a simple lace dress, vintage by Earth standards. The white dress was sleeveless with a sweetheart neckline, fitted bodice and full tea-length skirt. Her hair was swept up in a loose knot at the back of her neck, accented with a single pale pink rose to match the bouquet in her hands. Her jewelry was understated, a pair of pearl earrings, a pearl bracelet, and the ring he had given her. The only other color came from her TARDIS blue shoes.

The Doctor felt a jolt of electricity the moment that Rose looked up at him and they made eye contact. She grinned, that special tongue-in-teeth grin that he knew was reserved only for him. He tried to wait patiently, but it felt like a thousand lifetimes before Tony finally placed Rose's hand in his own. "You are beautiful," he breathed as he squeezed her hand.

Vastra smiled and gestured for everyone to take their seats. "The Doctor and Rose would like to take a moment to thank you all for being here with them today," she began. "They know that making the journey took considerable effort and for this they are deeply grateful. All of you are the most important people in their lives. All of the time and conversations that you have had with Rose and the Doctor before they even met helped to make them who they needed to be to find first themselves and then each other. You have shared in their best and their worst days, and you are an irreplaceable part of their yesterdays, their today and all of their tomorrows. So as you can see although many of you don't live right around the corner you are never far from their hearts.

"I look out at you now and I see a rich and diverse weave of differing beliefs, life styles, ages, species and viewpoints. Yet you are all here celebrating your love for Rose and the Doctor, wishing for them all that they would want for themselves, rather than what our own hopes many have been. It sounds more like an ideal but it isn't, and it is in part what makes their life together a thing of such great beauty.

"When you love someone, you do not love them all the time in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love and of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in the terror of the ebb. We are afraid it will never return.

"We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity, when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity, in freedom. The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, not forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now.

"The Doctor and Rose have chosen to incorporate the ancient Gallifreyan ritual of handfasting in their wedding ceremony today. Handfasting is a declaration of intent where the couple clearly states that they are marrying on their own free will.

"Rose, Doctor, know now before you go further that since your lives have crossed in this life, you have formed eternal bonds. As you seek to enter this state of matrimony you should strive to make real ideals that give meaning to this ceremony and to the sanctity of marriage. With full awareness, know that within this circle you are declaring your intent before your friends and family as witnesses.

"The promises made today and the ties that are bound here greatly strengthen your union and will cross the years and lives of each soul's growth. Do you seek to enter this ceremony?"

The Doctor and Rose shared a smile before answering in unison. "Yes," they agreed.

Vastra turned to Tony next. "Anthony Brian Tyler Williams, standing as the family of the bride, what say you?"

"I consent and gladly give," he smiled.

"And River Song," Vastra said. "Standing as the family of the Doctor, what say you?"

River looked at Rose and the Doctor in turn before nodding. "I consent and gladly give."

At the direction of Vastra, the Doctor and Rose joined hands. She pulled a length of cord from her cloak and prepared to make the first binding.

"Then let's get started. Will you share in each other's pain and seek to alleviate it?"

"We will," they answered together.

"And so the binding is made," Vastra stated, winding the cord around their hands.

"Will you share laughter and look for the brightness and the positive in each other?"

"We will."

"And so the binding is made. Will you share in each other's burdens so that your spirits may grow in this union?"

"We will."

"And so the binding is made. Will you share in each other's dreams?"

"We will."

"And so the binding is made. Will you take the heat of anger and use it to temper the strength of this union?"

"We will."

"And so the binding is made. Will you each honor the other as an equal in this union?"

Rose raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, almost questioning his resolve on this one. "Always," he promised.

"Every day," Rose agreed.

"And so the binding is made," Vastra said, wrapping the end of the cord around their joined hands. "As your hands are bound together now, so your lives and spirits are joined in a union of love and trust. The bond of marriage is not formed by these cords, but rather by the vows you have made. For always you hold in your own hands the fate of this union. Above you are stars and below you is earth. Like stars your love should be a constant source of light, and like the earth below, a firm foundation from which to grow.

"In accordance with the ancient rites of the Time Lords, please now look into each other's eyes so that the final, mental binding can be made. In this way, you, Rose, shall learn the greatest secret. A secret that shall never be shared outside of this union."

The Doctor gave Rose a small smile. "Are you ready?"

Reaching out to him with her mind, Rose answered in the affirmative.

_Forever, my Doctor._


	36. Epilogue

Sometimes I think it's a miracle that I was ever born. I don't mean that as bad as it sounds, but really just given the countless impossible circumstances that my parents had to overcome in order to find their way back to each other... Well, you get it. Even now it's been nearly a century since Mum and Dad were married on Darillium, and they still act like newlyweds, oftentimes much to my chagrin.

I was born in the year 5245 in the Sisters of the Infinite Schism, the greatest hospital in the universe according to Dad. Traveling amongst the stars on the TARDIS had made for an amazing childhood. Although we were often joined by some of "Dad's strays," as Mum jokingly refers to their friends, I personally feel that some of the best times were when it was just our family.

Some might consider it a burden, being born with the inherent knowledge of an ancient race such as the Time Lords, but I always considered it an honor. Visiting new planets, befriending new species, and experiencing history first hand has taught me more than any school ever could. I knew virtually every detail of my parents' lives and their impact on the universe as a whole. I cherished every story, every memory that they shared with me, and even those that I may have - accidentally - discovered via other means. (What can I say? It pays off being a child of the TARDIS!)

However, despite all of this, I always felt that something was missing, that there was a part of my own history I needed to experience. And so for my 21st birthday I asked only one thing of my parents: the chance to meet, even if only in passing, Jackie and Pete Tyler, my human grandparents.

Dad, of course, was hesitant at first. He stammered through excuses about meddling in your own time line, fixed points (as if he could talk, the hypocrite!), and creating paradoxes. But, as always, he gave in once Mum took up my cause. And that is how we came to land in a small village square, just north of London.

* * *

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Rose asked, stepping out of the TARDIS and looking around. It was a crisp fall day, and the wind was just starting to pick up.

"Of course I'm sure! They should be coming 'round the bend any moment now," the Doctor replied, stepping behind Rose and wrapping his arms around her as he rested his chin on her head.

Rose rolled her eyes, but was excited to think that she would see her parents again, even if only from a distance. "Sweetheart," she called back to the birthday girl. "Would you please grab a scarf for me?"

"Sure, Mum," she replied, pulling a scarf off the coat rack and rushing outside. After giving Rose the scarf, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "Is there anything better than fresh Earth air?"

Rose and the Doctor shared a smile. "Now concentrate," he said, making sure that her eyes remained closed. "When are we?"

"Doctor," Rose chided softly. "You don't have to-"

"How else will she learn, Rose?"

"It's fine," she said, trying to read her surroundings as her father had taught her. "We're just outside of London, in Great Britain on Earth. I know that. It's... mid-October? Yes, October 17."

"And what's the year, love?"

She stood frozen for a moment, considering everything. "Late twentieth century. 1980-ish?"

"Well done! Very close, 1981 actually," the Doctor beamed.

"1981?" Rose repeated. "We're too early! They didn't even  _meet_  until 1984!"

"What? Are you sure?" he replied. "The TARDIS coordinates were set correctly, and I can feel that something is on the horizon."

"I feel it too," the girl said, turning in the direction that the wind was blowing, her eyes still closed. "There is something big coming, from-"

There was a sudden strong gust of wind and her eyes flew open. That's when she saw him. A large leaf had blown off of a nearby tree and flew into his face, causing him to stumble into the path of an oncoming car.

"Oh my stars!" she yelled, rushing to pull him out of harm's way as her parents watched the scene unfold from their perch on a nearby park bench, smiles of dawning comprehension on both their faces. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, sounding as nervous as she felt.

In fact, that was the moment when she finally understood the meaning of 'having butterflies.' She giggled nervously and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She bit her lip, no doubt looking a bit like her mother. "Hello."

"Hello," he repeated, smiling nervously.

"Hello," she said again. "Sorry, that was 'Hello' twice, wasn't it? And I just keep talking, sorry. Again. Bit of a gob, I know. Get that from my Dad- Anyway, hi. Again. I'm Ellie."

He smiled again, and her hearts skipped a beat. "Nice to meet you, Ellie. I'm Dave, Dave Oswald."

_~~~~Fin~~~~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it. The end, but an open one at that. I hope that you all enjoyed the ride!


End file.
